Change History

Version 5.0, Production, Oct 18 2026

See CHANGELOG.md on GitHub for the complete, detailed history. Highlights of this release:

* Full Tcl 9 port: Tcl_Size API changes, stricter variable scoping, modern stubs mechanism
* Oracle 23c compatibility: array DML cursor handling, NLS/version detection, blob LOB read/write fixes
* New oralob2 command: direct OCILobRead2-based LOB access, bypassing the PL/SQL DBMS_LOB wrapper
* Security hardening: fixed a script-injection/buffer-overflow in the TAF failover callback,
scrubbed credentials from freed memory, added an integer-overflow guard on fetchrows
* Deprecated the oraconfig unicode option in favor of Tcl 9's native UTF-8 handling
* Modernized build: ANSI C prototypes throughout, TEA 3.13, removed legacy CONST84/_ANSI_ARGS_/pre-8.4 code
* Windows support confirmed via free mingw-w64 cross-compilation (no MSVC or Oracle SDK required to build)
* Copyright updated to 2000-2026

Version 4.6

A Windows x64 binary was built and published for 4.6, but no corresponding source tarball was
ever published as a SourceForge default download. Highlights of this release (developed in
two main bursts, 2009-10 through 2009-11 and 2016-03 through 2017-11):

* `orainfo` expanded with new `release` and `nlsgetinfo` subcommands (server/client release
string in #.#.#.#.# format; NLS_CHARACTER_SET and other NLS_PARAMETER values)
* `oralogon`/`oralogoff` set OCI_ATTR_DRIVER_NAME so Oratcl connections show as 'Oratcl' in
v$session_connect_info, and fixed several int/size_t and OCIServerAttach parameter issues
* `oratcl_utils.tcl`: added `getLogo` (expose the Oratcl-powered logo as a Tk image for
external use) and `prettyDesc` (cleaner formatted column descriptions)
* Fixed sourceforge bug #71 (LONG column results ignoring `oraconfig longsize`) and
implemented feature request #10 (consistent `-datavariable` usage across `oralob`/
`oralong`/`orafetch`)
* Test suite hardened for OS-authentication and Oracle 12c error-code changes; `oradesc.test`
completely rewritten
* Build updated to TEA 3.10, added teapot.txt packaging support
* Converted to SVN for source code management partway through this release's development

See CHANGELOG.md
on GitHub for the complete day-by-day commit history.

Version 4.5, Production, Oct 07, 2009

2009-10-02 Todd Helfter
* CVS_TAG : tagged 4.5 for release

2009-09-30 Todd Helfter
* tests/all.tcl : remove printing of globals, using namespaces keeps
the main interp clean.

2009-09-29 Todd Helfter
* tests/orabind.test : update for proper usage of ::tcltest
* tests/oraexec.test :
* tests/orabindexec.test :
* tests/oraplexec.test :
* tests/oracols.test :
* tests/oralong.test :
* tests/async.test :
* tests/merge.test :
* tests/oralob.test :
* tests/unicode.test :

2009-09-29 Todd Helfter
* tests/orafetch.test : update for proper usage of ::tcltest

2009-09-29 Todd Helfter
* tests/usertype.test : update usertype.test tests for proper usage of ::tcltest

2009-09-29 Todd Helfter
* tests/codes.test : update codes.test tests for proper usage of ::tcltest

2009-09-29 Todd Helfter
* tests/oratcl.c : remove Oratcl_SafeInit : Tcl no longer exposes the '::env' global
array to safe interps. Oracle libraries require the env(ORACLE_HOME) to be set, so
there is no longer any reason to support trying to load Oratcl into a safe interp.
* tests/all.tcl: remove call to safe.test, add call to slaveinterps.test
* tests/safe.tcl : file removed
* tests/slaveinterps.test : file added

since there is now only a single cleanup function.
2009-09-27 Todd Helfter
* tests/oratcl.c : [BUG 2817940] moved contents of Oratcl_Clean() into Oratcl_Delete
since there is now only a single cleanup function.

2009-09-27 Todd Helfter
* tests/oratcl.c : [BUG 2817940] improve null pointer detection in Oratcl_Clean

2009-09-27 Todd Helfter
* tests/oratcl.c : [BUG 2817940] remove unnecessary exit handler Oratcl_Exit

2009-09-27 Todd Helfter
* tests/oratcl.h : [BUG 2817940] remove unused function header Oratcl_Kill

2009-09-22 Todd Helfter
* tests/oralogon.test : Apply constraints that require oralogon and oralogoff procs.

2009-09-22 Todd Helfter
* tests/orainfo.test : Improve error code testing and update to tcltest v2.

2009-09-22 Todd Helfter
* generic/oraclose.test : update oraclose to return 0 instead of null on success.
* tests/oraopen.test :

2009-09-22 Todd Helfter
* tests/oraopen.test : Improve error code testing and update to tcltest v2.

2009-09-22 Todd Helfter
* tests/oralogon.test : Improve error code testing and update to tcltest v2.

2009-06-24 Todd Helfter
* generic/oratcl.c: BUG 2811878] Correct the [oracols $stm name] functionality for pl/sql.

2008-12-22 Todd Helfter
* generic/oraparse.c: Correct the [oramsg $stm ocicode] functionality.
* generic/oraexec.c:

2008-12-21 Todd Helfter
* generic/oramsg.c: The ARRAYDML patch, caused core dumps in oramsg.c.
This has been corrected.

2008-08-30 Todd Helfter
* tests/safe.test: BUG [2078194] Safe Interps can [package require]
since Tcl 8.5.3. The safe test will fail on Tcl older than 8.5.3

2008-08-13 Todd Helfter
* generic/oratcl.c: BUG [2049761] remove an unneeded ckfree() call.

2007-12-17 Todd Helfter
* generic/oraexec.c: XOR the various oci_mode options together;
such as OCI_COMMIT_ON_SUCCESS and OCI_BATCH_ERRORS. This allows
arraydml and autocommit to work properly in the same oraexec.

2007-12-17 Todd Helfter
* tests/arraydml.test: add additional tests for arraydml.

2007-12-17 Todd Helfter
* library/oratcl_utils.tcl: allow caller to specify tile them as
a parameter

2007-12-17 Todd Helfter
* tests/all.tcl, tests/arraydml.test: new test file for array dml
* generic/oraexec.c: oraexec now returns oracle API error message
for array dml operations instead of a pre-set value.

2007-12-16 Todd Helfter
* Makefile.in:
* configure, configure.in:
* tclconfig/tcl.m4: update to TEA 3.6

2007-12-16 Todd Helfter
* generic/oratcl.c : correct the offset computation in the ColAppend
to account for the '\0' null byte.

2007-12-14 Todd Helfter
* library/oratcl_utils.tcl : new file
* configure.in
* configure
* Makefile.in : provide a new package 'Oratcl::utils' with additional
features including GUI login dialog boxes.

2007-12-13 Todd Helfter
* generic/oratclInt.h : BUG [1708729] set the default LOBPSIZE back to
10000, a value that works with the pl/sql wrappers in the oralob
command, but is too small for DML lob support performance.

2007-12-13 Todd Helfter
* generic/orabind.c
* generic/oraexec.c : correct issues with -arraydml flag to orabind.
Poor logic in orabind.c caused abort. List error handling part from
original patch not applied to oraexec.c

2007-12-12 Todd Helfter
* generic/oraplexec.c
* generic/orabindexec.c : #1725882 : memory leak in oralob alloc/free
This was really a leak of Tcl_Obj from the objv duplication methods in oraplexec and orabindexec. Corrected this leak.

2007-12-11 Todd Helfter
* generic/orabind.c
* generic/oratclTypes.h : Slight correction of the OCIBindDynamic()
prototype and some (dvoid *) castes to eliminate compile warning about
changin pointer types in the new arraydml code.

2007-12-10 Todd Helfter
* doc/oratcl.n
* generic/orabind.c
* generic/oramsg.c
* generic/oraopen.c
* generic/oratcl.c
* generic/oratclInt.h
* generic/oratclTypes.h : Implement an array dml feature for bulk
loading data (insert/update) using a patch submitted by Jeremy Collins
about four years ago. 1000 row inserts using array dml execute in about
5% of the time as a traditional loop, bind, exec.

2007-12-09 Todd Helfter
* doc/oratcl.n
* doc/oratcl.html : Correct a typo

2007-12-08 Todd Helfter
* generic/oradefs.h
* generic/oralob.c
* generic/oralong.c
* generic/oratcl.c
* generic/oratcl.h
* generic/oratclInt.h
* generic/oratypes.h
* tests/async.test
* tests/codes.test
* tests/orabind.test
* tests/orabindexec.test
* tests/oracols.test
* tests/oracommit.test
* tests/oradesc.test
* tests/oraexec.test
* tests/orafetch.test
* tests/orainfo.test
* tests/oralob.test
* tests/oralogin.test
* tests/oralogon.test
* tests/oralong.test
* tests/oraopen.test
* tests/oraparse.test
* tests/oraplexec.test
* tests/orasql.test
* tests/safe.test
* tests/usertype.test : update copyright date

2007-12-08 Todd Helfter
* configure.in
* configure : reoganize .c modules build list for neatness

2007-12-08 Todd Helfter
* generic/oraparse.c : new file
* generic/orasql.c : new file
* configure.in
* configure
* generic/oratcl.c : Break up oratcl.c source file into smaller units for easier

2007-12-07 Todd Helfter
* generic/orabind.c : new file
* generic/orabindexec.c : new file
* generic/orabreak.c : new file
* generic/oraconfig.c : new file
* generic/oradesc.c : new file
* generic/oraexec.c : new file
* generic/orafetch.c : new file
* generic/oraplexec.c : new file
* configure.in
* configure
* generic/oratcl.c : Break up oratcl.c source file into smaller units for easier
management and revision control.

2007-12-07 Todd Helfter
* generic/oralogon.c : remove unneeded code that was ifdef'd out.

2007-12-07 Todd Helfter
* generic/oralogon.c : new file
* generic/oralogoff.c : new file
* configure.in
* configure
* generic/oratcl.c : Break up oratcl.c source file into smaller units for easier
management and revision control.

2007-12-07 Todd Helfter
* generic/oraautocom.c : new file
* generic/oraclose.c : new file
* generic/oracommit.c : new file
* generic/orainfo.c : new file
* generic/oramsg.c : new file
* generic/oraopen.c : new file
* generic/oraroll.c : new file
* generic/oratclExtern.h : new file
* configure.in
* configure
* generic/oratcl.c : Break up oratcl.c source file into smaller units for easier
management and revision control.

2007-11-29 Todd Helfter
* generic/oratcl.c
* generic/oralob.c
* generic/oralong.c
* doc/oratcl.html
* doc/oratcl.n
* tests/orainfo.test : standardize naming of a 'logonhandle'.
Since the relevent function is 'oralogon' the item returned is a
logonhandle. The 'orainfo' command inccorectly had an option for
the 'loginhandle' (misspelled). 'orainfo', now accepts 'logonhandle'
and a future version of OraTcl will deprecate the 'loginhandle' option.
** Future code incompatibility

2007-11-29 Todd Helfter
* generic/oradefs.h
* generic/oratcl.c
* doc/oratcl.n
* doc/oratcl.html : add 3 new options to 'oralogon'. -sysdba, -sysoper and -sysasm

2007-11-29 Todd Helfter
* doc/oratcl.n
* doc/oratcl.html : bump version number to 4.5 and unset release date.

2007-11-24 Todd Helfter
* tests/all.tcl
* tests/unicode.tcl
* generic/oratcl.c : add new unicode processing to orabind and orafetch triggered by
the unicode flag which is set with oraconfig.

2007-10-29 Todd Helfter
* generic/oratclInt.h
* generic/oratcl.c : add a unicode flag to the Statement Handle structure.
allow oraconfig to set and get the unicode flag.

2007-10-27 Todd Helfter
2009-09-22 Todd Helfter
* tests/oraopen.test : Apply constraints that require oraopen and oraclose procs.