Editing Tabular Data Stream (section)

==History==
During the early development of Sybase SQL Server, the developers at Sybase perceived the lack of a commonly accepted application level protocol to transfer data between a [[database server]] and its [[Client (computing)|client]]. In order to encourage the use of its products, Sybase promoted the use of a flexible pair of [[Library (computer science)|libraries]], called <code>netlib</code> and <code>db-lib</code>, to implement standard [[SQL]]. A further library was included in order to implement "Bulk Copy" called <code>blk</code>. While <code>netlib</code>'s job is to ferry data between the two computers through the underlying [[network protocol]], <code>db-lib</code> provides an API to the client program, and communicates with the server via <code>netlib</code>. <code>db-lib</code> sends to the server a structured stream of bytes meant for tables of data, hence a Tabular Data Stream. <code>blk</code> provides, like <code>db-lib</code>, an API to the client programs and communicates with the server via <code>netlib</code>.

In 1990 Sybase entered into a technology-sharing agreement with [[Microsoft]] which resulted in Microsoft marketing its own SQL Server — [[Microsoft SQL Server]] — based on Sybase's code. Microsoft kept the <code>db-lib</code> API and added [[ODBC]]. (Microsoft has since added additional APIs.) At about the same time, Sybase introduced a more powerful successor to <code>db-lib</code>, called <code>ct-lib</code>, and called the pair [[Open Client]].  <code>db-lib</code>, though officially deprecated, remains in widespread{{quantify|date=July 2017}} use.

The TDS protocol comes in several varieties, most of which had not been openly documented because they were regarded{{by whom|date=July 2017}} as [[proprietary software|proprietary technology]]. The exception was TDS 5.0, used exclusively by Sybase, for which documentation is available from Sybase.<ref name="tdsfunctionalspec">{{cite web | url = http://www.sybase.com/content/1040983/Sybase-tds38-102306.pdf | title = TDS 5.0 Functional Specification, Version 3.8 | accessdate = 2009-07-08}}</ref> This situation changed when Microsoft published the TDS specification in 2008,<ref name="msopenprotocols">{{cite web | url = http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/dd304523.aspx | title = [MS-TDS]: Tabular Data Stream Protocol | accessdate = 2014-04-29}}</ref> as part of the [[Microsoft Open Specification Promise|Open Specification Promise]].

The [[FreeTDS]] team has developed a free native-library implementation of the TDS protocol,<ref>{{cite book | title = SQL server security |author1= Chip Andrews |author2= David Litchfield |author3= Bill Grindlay | page = 260 | publisher = [[McGraw-Hill Professional]] | year = 2003 | isbn = 0-07-222515-7 }}</ref> licensed under the [[GNU Lesser General Public License|LGPL]] license. [[WireShark]] has a protocol decoder for TDS.<ref>[http://wiki.wireshark.org/Protocols/tds protocol/tds], Wireshark.org wiki</ref>

[[Oracle Corporation]] provides [[Oracle Net]] - software analogous to TDS.<ref>
{{cite web
 |url= http://www.microsoft.com/rus/download.aspx?file=/SQL2008/white_papers/OracleSSIS.docx
 |title= SQL Server Integration Services with Oracle Database 10g
 |date= May 2008
 |series= SQL Server Technical Article
 |publisher= Microsoft
 |page= 2
 |access-date= 2017-07-20
 |quote= Oracle Net is analogous to the SQL Server Tabular Data Stream (TDS) transport facility.
}}
</ref>