NEWS

# @markup markdown

2.2.3
=====

New Features
------------

### Support ruby 2.4.0

-   [Fix invalid value for BigDecimal](https://github.com/kubo/ruby-oci8/issues/144)
-   Fix load error when `GC.stress = true`.
-   Suppress warnings caused by integer unification
-   Suppress warnings outputted by Minitest in ruby 2.4.0
-   Suppress warnings when compiling with ruby 2.4.0

2.2.2
=====

New Features
------------

### Add OCI8::in_cond

This is a helper method to bind an array to parameters in IN-conditions.
See {file:docs/bind-array-to-in_cond.md  Bind an Array to IN-condition}

### Add timeout parameters in OCI8::properties

See {file:docs/timeout-parameters.md Timeout Parameters}

### Support SYSBACKUP, SYSDG and SYSKM privileges.

For example:

    OCI8.new(username, password, database, :SYSBACKUP)

(github issue #110)

### Support {OCI8::Cursor#row_count} over 4G (Oracle 12c client only)

Fixed Issues
------------

### Fix type mapping of subtypes of Oracle object

github issue #119

### Fix compile error on cygwin since ruby-oci8 2.1.8.

github issue #113

### Fix compile error when the ruby was compiled by Visual Studio 64bit.

Other Changes
-------------

-   Suppress warning: instance variable @name_to_tdo not initialized.


-   Check the default value of DYLD_FALLBACK_LIBRARY_PATH after checking OCI_DIR on installation. (OS X only)


2.2.1
=====

New Features
------------

### Add OCI8::Metadata::Boolean

Support boolean type binding. This feature requires Oracle 12c client and server.
Binding a boolean value fails when either Oracle server or client is 11g or lower.

Fixed Issues
------------

The following two issues were introduced in ruby-oci8 2.2.0.

### Fix handle leaks in OCI8#ping

This bug affects Oracle 10gR1 client only.

### Fix potential segmentation fault on ruby process termination

Other Changes
-------------

-   Reduce compilation time by dropping unnecessary checks.

-   Delete unused code which was added to support old Oracle and ruby 1.8.

2.2.0.2
=======

Nothing was changed except the version.

The forth version was incremented to release binary gems for mingw32.
The binary gems for 2.2.0.1 didn't work by faultily packaging.

2.2.0.1
=======

If ruby-oci8 2.2.0 is installed, you have no need to update it to
2.2.0.1. Source code itself was not changed between 2.2.0 and 2.2.0.1.

### Change the required ruby version in the ruby-oci8 gem

It was '>= 1.8.0' in ruby-oci8 2.2.0 even though ruby 1.8 support was
dropped.

### Change the URLs displayed on installation failure

Ruby-oci8 2.2.0 documents had not been generated in rubydoc.info
though the URLs are displayed on installation failure. They were
changed to documents generated by the latest github repository.

2.2.0
=====

### Drop ruby 1.8 support

Use ruby-oci8 2.1.8 for ruby 1.8.

### Drop Oracle 9i support

Use ruby-oci8 2.1.8 for Oracle 9i.

New Features
------------

### Support LOB over 4G

### Fix to install ruby-oci8 on OS X 10.11 El Capitan.

`DYLD_LIBRARY_PATH` is unset for security reasons on OS X 10.11.
The installation script was changed to work without `DYLD_LIBRARY_PATH`
and check the environment variable `OCI_DIR` also to tell instant
client directory.

Other Changes
-------------

-   Change the default prefetch row size to 100.

-   Add notice that OCI8::LOB is an I/O object and is closed
    when a associating connection is closed.

-   Add ruby-oci8 version the driver name, which is displayed in 
    `V$SESSION_CONNECT_INFO.CLIENT_DRIVER` for Oracle 12.1.0.2 or later.
    (suggested by Christopher Jones)

-   Use `Kernel.load` in ruby-oci8.gemspec instead of `load`.
    `load`, without the module name, is used as `Gem::Specification.load`
    by some ruby installations.

-   Add OCI8.charset_name2id and OCI8.charset_id2name.
    Mark OCI8#charset_name2id and OCI8#charset_id2name as deprecated.

2.1.8
=====

New Features
------------

### Send and receive timeouts

New methods {OCI8#send_timeout}, {OCI8#send_timeout=}, {OCI8#recv_timeout} and {OCI8#recv_timeout=}
were added. They are available on Oracle 11.1 or upper.

Use them at your own risk because they use [undocumented OCI handle attributes](http://blog.jiubao.org/2015/01/undocumented-oci-handle-attributes.html).

### Cancel read system calls not to prevent ruby process termination

When network quality is poor and incoming packets are lost irregularly,
the ruby process termination may be blocked until TCP keepalive time (2 hours).

By setting [OCI8.properties[:cancel_read_at_exit]](OCI8.html#properties-class_method)
true, read system calls, which may wait incoming packets, are canceled at exit.
See: [github issue #56](https://github.com/kubo/ruby-oci8/issues/56)

This feature is disabled by default because it uses [unusual technique](https://github.com/kubo/plthook)
which hooks read system calls issued by Oracle client library and it works only on
Linux, Windows and OSX.

### RGenGC

Object allocation code is rewritten to use [RGenGC](http://www.infoq.com/news/2013/12/ruby21).

Fixed Issues
------------

-   Raises an exception when a closed OCI8 object is used.
    Using a closed cursor causes various problems such as segmentation
    fault, nil comparison error and so on.
    See: [github issue #61](https://github.com/kubo/ruby-oci8/issues/61)
    and [github issue #62](https://github.com/kubo/ruby-oci8/issues/62)

    (reported by Mike Bourgeous)

-   Fix "RuntimeError:executing in another thread"
    when a closed connection is used. This bug was introduced by
    the previously listed issue.
    See: [github issue #64](https://github.com/kubo/ruby-oci8/issues/64)

    (reported by Yasuo Honda)

-   Fix SEGV when a temporary LOB is freed by GC while reading another
    lob and the ruby version is 2.0.0 or upper.

-   Skip rollback on logoff when no transactions are in progress.

-   Fix a broken link in README.md.
    See: [github issue #67](https://github.com/kubo/ruby-oci8/issues/67)

    (reported by Zloy)

-   Don't use SYM2ID on ruby 2.2.0 or later not to make symbols unGCable
    by [Symbol GC](http://www.infoq.com/news/2014/12/ruby-2.2.0-released).

2.1.7
=====

New Features
------------

### Add OCI8::Metadata::Base#obj_link.

Fixed Issues
------------

-   Fix OCI8#describe_table to follow synonyms in a remote database.

2.1.6
=====

New Features
------------

### Support ruby 2.1.0

### Support cygwin x86_64

### OCI8#describe_synonym and OCI8#describe_any accept 'PUBLIC.XXX' as a public synonym name.

Fixed Issues
------------

-   fix wrong return valus of OCI8::Metadata::Synonym#schema_name
    and #translated_name for synonyms with a database link but
    without schema_name.

-   fix ruby version checking in binary gem. Gem::ruby_version of
    ruby 2.0.0p195 is 2.0.0.195, which doesn't match '= 2.0.0'.

    (github issue #36 reported by sodonnel)

-   fix SEGV when metadata are accessed after the session is disconnected.

-   fix undefined method 'char_used?' when OCI8::Metadata::Argument#inspect is called.

-   fix tests in an environment where the data size of "CAST('1' AS CHAR(1 char))"
    is wrong.

-   suppress warnings "MiniTest::Unit::TestCase is now Minitest::Test"
    when minitest gem is installed.

-   fix SEGV when oci8lib.so is compiled by mingw64 without runtime-check option.
    Note that binary gems are compiled with runtime-check to check available Oracle
    client features at runtime.

-   fix SEGV when one connection is used by more than two threads and temporary
    lobs are freed by GC.

2.1.5
=====

New Features
------------

### V$SESSION_CONNECT_INFO.CLIENT_DRIVER.

'rubyoci8' is set as the driver name, which is displayed in
V$SESSION_CONNECT_INFO.CLIENT_DRIVER when both the client and
the server are Oracle 11g or upper.

Fixed Issues
------------

-   fix segmentation fault when the process exits on rubinius.

-   fix "OCI Library Initialization Error" only when the Oracle
    instant client is 11.2.0.3 for Solaris x86 32-bit, the ruby
    version is 1.9.3 or upper and the ruby is compiled by gcc.

2.1.4
=====

New Features
------------

### Fast Application Notification (FAN) support

Look at {http://php.net/manual/en/oci8.connection.php} to know what is FAN.
[oci8.events](http://php.net/manual/en/oci8.configuration.php#ini.oci8.events) in PHP
corresponds to {OCI8.properties  OCI8.properties[:events_mode]} in ruby-oci8.

Note: You need to set `OCI8.properties[:events_mode]` after `"require 'oci8'"` and before
any methods which call Oracle OCI functions.

Fixed Issues
------------

-   fix SEGV when a temporary LOB is freed when `OCILobRead` returns `OCI_NEED_DATA`.
    See: [github issue #20](https://github.com/kubo/ruby-oci8/issues/20)

    (reported by Edgars Beigarts)

-   use `RUBY_VERSION` instead of `RbConfig::CONFIG['ruby_version']` to know the
    ruby ABI version. The latter may be changed by the configure option
    --with-ruby-version.
    See: [github issue #24](https://github.com/kubo/ruby-oci8/issues/24)

    (reported by suhrawardi)

-   add a script encoding magic comment for ruby 2.0.0 preview2.
    See: [github issue #25](https://github.com/kubo/ruby-oci8/issues/25)

    (reported by aboltart)

-   fix {OCI8#describe_table} not to follow synonyms until stack overflow.
    Now the recursive level is limited to 20.
    See: [github issue #26](https://github.com/kubo/ruby-oci8/issues/26)

    (reported by Brian Henderson)

2.1.3
=====

New Features
------------

### {OCI8::Cursor#statement}

It returns the text of the SQL statement prepared in the cursor.

    cursor = conn.parse("select * from country where country_code = 'ja'")
    cursor.statement # => "select * from country where country_code = 'ja'"

See: [github issue #16](https://github.com/kubo/ruby-oci8/issues/16)

Specification changes
---------------------

### License was changed to 2-clause BSD-style license.

The former license was same with old ruby (<= 1.9.2) license.

### Oracle object type's DATE field type

Ruby-oci8 had returned a DateTime object when Oracle object type's DATE
field type was accessed. Now it returns a Time object.

Fixed Issues
------------

-   Fix to work with procedures and functions that return temporary lobs.
    See: [github issue #13](https://github.com/kubo/ruby-oci8/issues/13)

    (contributed by timon)

-   Fix Oracle object type's DATE field tests.
    See: [github issue #17](https://github.com/kubo/ruby-oci8/issues/17)

    (reported by Yasuo Honda)

-   Fix a sequence test failure on Oracle 11gR2.
    See: [github issue #18](https://github.com/kubo/ruby-oci8/issues/18)

    (reported by Yasuo Honda)

-   Include COPYING files.
    See: [github issue #19](https://github.com/kubo/ruby-oci8/issues/19)

    (requested by Johannes Weberhofer)

-   Fix SEGV when a temporary LOB is GCed while another LOB is read.
    See: [github issue #20](https://github.com/kubo/ruby-oci8/issues/20)

    (reported by techsplicer)

-   Fix #<NoMethodError: undefined method `timezone' for Time:Class>
    when ruby is less than 1.9.2 and an object type's time attribute is accessed.

2.1.2
=====

Specification changes
---------------------

### Statement caching in OCI is disabled by default.

This is workaround about a SIGSEGV issue.
See: [oracle enhanced issue #162](https://github.com/rsim/oracle-enhanced/issues/162)

Fixed Issues
------------

-   delete code which overwrites signal handlers registered by ruby.
    See: [rubyforge thread 50690](https://web.archive.org/web/20140521194940/https://rubyforge.org/forum/forum.php?thread_id=50690&forum_id=1078)

-   fix internal heap error in OCI.
    See: [github issue #12](https://github.com/kubo/ruby-oci8/issues/12)

    (reported by Yasuo Honda)

2.1.1
=====

New Features
------------

### Statement caching in OCI

See {http://docs.oracle.com/cd/E11882_01/appdev.112/e10646/oci09adv.htm#i471377}.
This feature is enabled only when the Oracle client is 9iR2 or upper.

The default cache size is 20. It can be changed as follows.

    # change the size to 100.
    OCI8.properties[:statement_cache_size] = 100

Note: The default size was changed to zero in 2.1.2.

Specification changes
---------------------

### OCI8::LOB#read() returns an empty string '' when it is an empty lob.

It had been returned nil.

Fixed Issues
------------

-   OCI8::CLOB.new(conn, '') works now.

-   fix core dump when calling PL/SQL procedure with cursor argument.
    See: {https://github.com/kubo/ruby-oci8/issues/11}

    (reported by Raimonds Simanovskis)

-   fix testcase failures in DST.
    See: {https://github.com/kubo/ruby-oci8/issues/8}

    (reported by Yasuo Honda)

-   fix a compilation issue on Redhat.

    (reported by John Beckwith and others)

-   fix "wrong number of arguments (1 for 2)" when a date member in a object type is accessed.

    (repored by Leoš Bitto)

2.1.0
=====

New Features
------------

### OCI connection pooling

See: {OCI8::ConnectionPool}

### Daylight saving time aware if TZ is set.

You should set the environment variable TZ if your applications run
in a time zone with daylight saving time transitions.
Otherwise, Oracle session time zone is set with current constant
offset from GMT.
(reported by Yasuo Honda)

### connect as sysasm (Oracle 11g only)

You can connect to the Oracle server as SYSASM privilege as follows:

    OCI8.new('username/password as sysasm')

or

    OCI8.new('username', 'password', nil, :SYSASM)

### Oracle number is converted to ruby float exactly same as ruby does.

From ruby 1.9.2, a float value converted from Oracle number 15.7 by
the Oracle function OCINumberToReal() makes a string representation
15.700000000000001 by `Float#to_s`. (See: {http://redmine.ruby-lang.org/issues/4656})
To avoid this issue, any Oracle number is converted to a float as
ruby's `String#to_f` does.

The behavior is customizable by {OCI8.properties OCI8.properties[:float\_conversion\_type]}.

    OCI8.properties[:float_conversion_type] = :oracle # => Use OCINumberToReal()
    OCI8.properties[:float_conversion_type] = :ruby # => Use String#to_f

The default value is :ruby.

### `OCISuccessWithInfo` exceptions are not raised any more.

Ruby-oci8 2.0 treats `OCI_SUCCESS_WITH_INFO` in OCI layer as an error
and raise an exception {OCISuccessWithInfo} such as "ORA-24347: Warning of
a NULL column in an aggregate function" and "ORA-28002: the password will
expire within xx days."

From 2.1.0, it is treated as a warning and the exception is set
to {OCI8#last_error}.

### {OCI8#last_error} is added.

The last error or warning associated with the session is set to
{OCI8#last_error}. The usecase is to detect {OCISuccessWithInfo}.
It is reset by {OCI8#exec} and {OCI8#parse}.

### Experimental support of character length semantics

{OCI8.properties OCI8.properties[:length\_semantics]} indicates length semantics
of {OCI8::Cursor#bind\_param}. When it is `:char`, the length is counted by the
number of characters. When it is `:byte`, it is counted by the number of
bytes.

### {OCI8.client\_charset\_name} and {OCI8#database\_charset\_name} are added.

They return Oracle charset name such as WE8ISO8859P15.

Specification changes
---------------------

### The parent class {OCINoData} was changed from {OCIException} to {OCIError}.

### Oracle 8 and Oracie 8i is not supported anymore.

Fixed Issues
------------

-   Fix a bug that an array is always bound as null.
    This bug was introduced in ruby-oci8 2.0.5.

    (reported by Leoš Bitto)

-   Avoid a gcc internal compiler error when using ruby1.9.2-p290 on
    ubuntu 11.10 (64bit).

    (reported by Bob Saveland.)

-   Fix compilation problems on Solaris.

    (Reported by Sanjiv Patel.)

-   Fix compilation problems on Linux.

    (Reported by Edgars Beigarts.)

-   Connections are released by GC without explicit logoff.

-   Set ruby encoding CP950 for oracle characterset ZHT16MSWIN950 and
    CP951 for ZHT16HKSCS and ZHT16HKSCS31 when the ruby is 1.9.3.

-   Clear an executuing thread information in a connection when a SQL
    executions is canceled by Thread#kill or Timeout::timeout.

    (reported by Aaron Qian)

-   Fix some test cases for object type and TZ issues.

    (reported by Yasuo Honda)

-   Use Gem::Command.build_args to get arguments after '--'.

    (reported by jbirdjavi)

2.0.6
=====

Fixed issues
------------

-   fix SEGV when freeing a temporary LOB during GC on rubinius 1.2.3.

-   revert the exception type from RuntimeError to OCIException when
    a closed OCI handle's method is called. It was chaned in 2.0.5
    by mistake.

2.0.5
=====

New Features
------------

### Support Rubinius.

### {OraNumber#has\_decimal\_part?} is added.

Example:

    OraNumber(10).has_decimal_part?   # => false
    OraNumber(10.1).has_decimal_part? # => true

### Limitted support for OraNumber's positive and negative infinity.

They are converted to '~' and '-~' respectively as described in
{http://www.ixora.com.au/notes/infinity.htm}.

### {OCI8.properties} is added to control ruby-oci8 behaviour.

It supports :bind_string_as_nchar only for now.

### {OCI8.properties}[:bind\_string\_as\_nchar] is added.

You need to set "`OCI8.properties[:bind_string_as_nchar] = true`"
if the database character set is not UTF-8 and 'NCHAR'/'NVARCHAR2' columns
contain characters which cannot be converted to the database character set.

See: [rubyforge thread 48838](https://web.archive.org/web/20140519033641/http://rubyforge.org/forum/forum.php?thread_id=48838&forum_id=1078)

Fixed issues
------------

-   Fix InvalidHandle errors on Rails.

    (reported by Jordan Curzon and Aaron Qian)

    See: [rubyforge thread 49751](https://web.archive.org/web/20140519033653/http://rubyforge.org/forum/forum.php?thread_id=49751&forum_id=1078)

-   Raise "OCIError: ORA-01805: possible error in date/time operation"
    when Oracle 11gR2's client and server timezone versions are not same
    instead of raising a exception "undefined method `*' for nil:NilClass."

    See: [rubyforge thread 49102](https://web.archive.org/web/20140521194951/https://rubyforge.org/forum/forum.php?thread_id=49102&forum_id=1078)

-   Fix unexpectedly disconnect when failed-logon connections is GC'ed
    and the connection object's address is accidentally same with
    an alive connection.

-   Fix segmentation fault when calling {OCI8::Cursor#[]} for
    closed statement objects.

    (reported by Hugo L. Borges)

-   Fix a bug that a string is bound to RAW.
    Its encoding had been convertd to {OCI8.encoding} incorrectly.

-   Fix memory leaks when temporary lobs are used.

-   Fix a problem to assign 'NULL' bind value to object type bind variables.

    (reported by Raimonds Simanovskis)

-   Support LOB datatypes in object type.

    (reported by Michael Sexton)

-   Fix to compile on cygwin. The declaration of 'boolean' in Oracle
    conflicts with that of latest cygwin.

    (reported by Don Hill).

-   Fix to complie for the 32-bit ruby which was compiled on x86\_64 linux
    and configured without '--build', '--host' nor '--target'.
    The 'RUBY_PLATFORM' is 'x86_64-linux' even though the ruby is 32-bit.

    (reported by Jason Renschler)

-   Fix wrong dependencies in Makefile when running 'make -jNNN (where NNN >= 2)'

    (contributed by Alyano Alyanos. See bug #28129 on rubyforge.)

-   Fix to compile on HP-UX. Duplicated const qualifiers prevented HP-UX cc
    from compiling.

    (reported by Sebastian YEPES)

2.0.4
=====

New Features
------------

### {OCI8.error_message} is added.

Gets the Oracle error message specified by message id.
Its language depends on 'NLS_LANGUAGE'.

Note: This method is unavailable if the Oracle client version is 8.0.

    # When NLS_LANG is AMERICAN_AMERICA.AL32UTF8
    OCI8.error_message(1)
    # => "ORA-00001: unique constraint (%s.%s) violated"

    # When NLS_LANG is FRENCH_FRANCE.AL32UTF8
    OCI8.error_message(1)
    # => "ORA-00001: violation de contrainte unique (%s.%s)"

### {OraNumber#dump} is added.

Returns {OraNumber}'s internal representation whose format
is same with the return value of Oracle SQL function DUMP().
  
    OraNumber.new(100).dump #=> "Typ=2 Len=2: 194,2"
    OraNumber.new(123).dump #=> "Typ=2 Len=3: 194,2,24"
    OraNumber.new(0.1).dump #=> "Typ=2 Len=2: 192,11"

Fixed issues
------------

-   Fractional second part is lost when ruby's Time instance is bound
    to Oracle datatype TIMESTAMP.

    (reported by Raimonds Simanovskis)

-   {OraNumber#to\_i} and {OraNumber#to\_s} fail when its scale is larger
    than 38.

    (reported by Raimonds Simanovskis)

-   Memory leak about 30 bytes per one place holder for object type.

-   Segmentation fault when a collection of string is bound.

    (reported by Raimonds Simanovskis)

-   Segmentation fault when GC starts while initializing a bind
    object for object type.

    (reported by Remi Gagnon)

-   Segmentation fault when OCI8::Cursor#fetch is called prior to
    {OCI8::Cursor#exec}.

-   Detailed error message is not reported when 'PL/SQL NO_DATA_FOUND'
    exception is raised.

    (reported by Raimonds Simanovskis)

2.0.3
=====

Incompatible Changes
--------------------

### Number column in a SQL statement

Changes the default data type for number column which fit neither
Integer nor Float from {OraNumber} to BigDecimal.

    conn.exec("select 1.0 from dual") do |row|
      p row[0] # => BigDecimal("1") if the ruby-oci8 version is 2.0.3.
               # => OraNumber(1) if the version is 2.0.2.
    end

### Priority of OraNumber within numerical types

The return types of basic arithmetic operations with other numerical
types are changed.

2.0.3:

    OraNumber + Integer    => OraNumber  (OraNumber wins.)
    OraNumber + Float      => Float      (OraNumber loses.)
    OraNumber + Rational   => Rational   (OraNumber loses.)
    OraNumber + BigDecimal => BigDecimal (OraNumber loses.)

2.0.2:

    OraNumber + Integer    => OraNumber  (OraNumber wins always.)
    OraNumber + Float      => OraNumber
    OraNumber + Rational   => OraNumber
    OraNumber + BigDecimal => OraNumber

### Interval day to second

The retrived value of Oracle data type "interval day to second"
was changed from the number of days as a Rational to the number
of seconds as a Float by default.
Use 'OCI8::BindType::IntervalDS.unit = :day' to make it compatible
with the previous versions.

    conn.exec("select to_dsinterval('0 00:00:01') from dual") do |row|
      p row[0] # => 1.0 if the version is 2.0.3 and
               #    OCI8::BindType::IntervalDS.unit is :second.
               # => (1/86400) if the version is 2.0.3 and
               #    OCI8::BindType::IntervalDS.unit is :day or
               #    the version is 2.0.2.
    end

### Date, timestamp, timestamp with time zone data types and ruby 1.9.2

These data types are retrived always as Time values when the
ruby version is 1.9.2 because the Time class is enhanced to
represent any time zone and is free from year 2038 problem.

Prior to ruby 1.9.2, if the time cannot be represented by
Unix time or the time zone is neither utc nor local, they are
retrived as DateTime values.

### Non-blocking mode and ruby 1.9

Non-blocking mode is enabled by default when the ruby is 1.9.

New Features
------------

### BigDecimal and Rational are availabe as bind values.

### New methods {OCI8#module=}, {OCI8#action=} and {OCI8#client_info=} are added.

These methods change the module name, the action name and the client_info
in the current session respectively.

After Oracle 10g client, these don't perform network round trips.
The change is reflected to the server by the next round trip such as
{OCI8#exec}, {OCI8#ping}, etc.

Prior to Oracle 10g client, these call PL/SQL functions such as
`DBMS_APPLICATION_INFO.SET_MODULE`, `DBMS_APPLICATION_INFO.SET_ACTION`,
and `DBMS_APPLICATION_INFO.SET_CLIENT_INFO` internally.
The change is reflected immediately by a network round trip.

### {OCI8::BindType.default_timezone}

The default time zone of Time or DateTime values. This parameter is used only when

* date values are fetched and the Oracle client version is 8.x

    or

* object types have date data type attributes.

Note that if the Oracle client version is 9i or upper, the time
zone is determined by the session time zone. The default value
is local time zone. You can change it to GMT by executing the
following SQL statement for each connection.

    alter session set time_zone = '00:00'

Note: The session time zone is set by the environment variable TZ from
ruby-oci8 2.1.0.

Other specification changes
---------------------------

-   Add a global function OraNumber(obj) as a shortcut of OraNumber.new(obj)
    as Rational and BigDecimal do.

-   Fix to accept nil attribute in object type's
    constructors. This works only for simple data types such as number,
    string. But it doesn't for complex types such as object types.
    (requested by Remi Gagnon)

- add DATE datatype support in object types.

-   Change {OCI8::LOB#write} to accept an object which is not a String and
    doesn't respond to 'to_str' as IO#write does.
    (requested by Christopher Jones)

-   Change the initial polling interval of
    non-blocking mode for ruby 1.8 from 100 msec to 10 msec, which
    is same with ruby-oci8 1.0.

Fixed installation issues
-------------------------

-   Fix oraconf.rb for ruby 1.8.5 with Oracle 8.x which needs some object
    files to link with.

    (reported by Jayson Cena)

-   Fix oraconf.rb for ruby 1.9.2 preview1.

    (pointed by Raimonds Simanovskis)

-   Fix oraconf.rb to compile for AIX instant clients.

    (reported by Kazuya Teramoto)

2.0.2
=====

*   add new methods
    -   {OCI8#select_one}

    -   {OCI8#ping}   -> true or false

        Verifies that the Oracle connection is alive.
        {OCI8#ping} also can be used to flush all the pending OCI
        client-side calls to the server if any exist.

    -   {OCI8#client\_identifier=}client\_id

        Look at the following link to know what is the client identifier.
        {http://it.toolbox.com/blogs/database-solutions/oracle-session-tracing-part-i-16356}

        Note that the specified identifier doesn't change the v$session
        immediately. It is done by the next network round trip
        such as OCI8#exec or OCI8#ping.

*   fix problems when compiling with Oracle 9.2 and 8.0.

    (reported by Axel Reinhold)

*   [dbi] fix to pass a newly added sanity check in dbi 0.4.1.

    (reported by Dirk Herzhauser)

*   fix an error when executing "select NULL from dual".

    [rubyforge thread 32468](https://web.archive.org/web/20140521152939/http://rubyforge.org/forum/forum.php?thread_id=32468&forum_id=1078)
    (contributed by Raimonds Simanovskis)

*   [ruby 1.9] fix OCI8::BLOB to read/write binary. Prior to 2.0.1,

    it was treated as text tagged with 'NLS_LANG' encoding.

*   [ruby 1.9] fix to bind string data by the length got from String#bytesize
    converted to {OCI8.encoding}, not by String#size.

2.0.1
=====

*   release a binary gem for Windows, which contains libraries for both
    ruby 1.8 and ruby 1.9.1.
*   add {OCI8#oracle\_server\_version}.
*   fix bugs when fetching and binding time objects.