libclntsh.sl (SHLIB_PATH - Oracle vs Cognos)

[Jonbickel@aol.com]

PowerHouse 8.23d2 on HP-UX over Oracle 8.

I have solved the relevant problem, but would like to know if 
anyone is aware of any pitfalls to this solution.

This is a fairly long explanation - So, I apologize in advance.

Problem -

When running the following quiz code:

  access ldd_table in testdb
  choose project '40625-01100'
  sort on dt_stamp
  footing at dt_stamp dt_stamp hrs_reg
  go

The field dt_stamp is Char(8), but the relevant data
is actually some type of numeric (the value is being inserted 
by a third-party app [no source available]). Variant results were obtained by running under different logins - 
Under one login, records with distinct values were lumped 
together into one footing (incorrect), whereas running 
under another login resulted in a multiple footings (correct).

Investigation indicated that the key difference lay in 
the assignment of the SHLIB_PATH environment variable on login.

SHLIB_PATH = /opt/cognos/ph823d2/lib:/app/oracle/product/8.1.7/lib
Resulted in incorrect sorting.

SHLIB_PATH = /app/oracle/product/8.1.7/lib:/opt/cognos/ph823d2/lib
Resulted in correct sorting.

Further investigation revealed that the file libclntsh.sl was
present in both /lib directories.  The inference would be that
correct data evaluation results when the using the Oracle version
rather than that of Cognos.

As I said, the problem can be solved for the moment by insuring
correct path order assignment on login.  But, I was wondering 
if anyone out there could shed any light on whether having the 
Oracle library supersede Cognos is "as intended" and/or advisable.

Thanks to all for slogging through the explantion,

Jon Bickel