Running pro*c from oracle10 against oracle9

Question

Hello everybody,
my DBA says that (pre) compiling a pro*C program under oracle 10g and then running it against an oracle 9 instance will cause no problems.
I would rather expect the opposite to be true: compiling under 9 and running against oracle 10 as this should be backward compatible.
Has anybody ever tried this?
Thanks a lot.

Answer 1

Tried both. Both work - with qualification.
Compile using ProC 9i and run against 10g DB - you will only get access to the capabilites of 9i ProcC (see the 'New Features section of the 10g ProC manual for what you are missing)
Compile using ProcC 10g and run against 9i DB - you will only get access to the 9i DB capabilties. However, you can use some of the 10g ProC capabilties as long as they don't demand a 10g DB capabilitiy to work. Again, the same section of the manual will help.
Then again, there are unexpected situations in both combinations that may give you 'exceptional results'. That's what Metalink and patches are all about.
Summary:
9i ProC -> 9i DB = OK
9i ProC -> 10g DB = OK but limited to 9i ProC capabilitiesd
10g ProC -> 10g DB = OK
10g ProC -> 9i DB = OK but limited to 9i DB capabilties