This section describes how to set up ODBC connectivity and configure DSNs on several Linux distributions: Debian-based systems, like Ubuntu, and Red Hat Linux platforms, like Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL), CentOS, and Fedora.

Minimum Linux Versions

Here are the minimum supported versions for Red Hat-based and Debian-based systems:

OS	Min. Version
Ubuntu	11.04
Debian	7
RHEL	6.9
CentOS	6.9
Fedora	13
SUSE	12.1

Installing the Driver Dependencies

Run the following commands as root or with sudo to install the necessary dependencies:

• Debian/Ubuntu:
  

  apt-get install libc6 libstdc++6 zlib1g libgcc1

• RHEL/CentOS/Fedora:
  

  yum install glibc libstdc++ zlib libgcc

Here are the corresponding libraries required by the driver:

Debian/Ubuntu Package	RHEL/CentOS/Fedora Package	File
libc6	glibc	linux-vdso.1
libc6	glibc	libm.so.6
libc6	glibc	librt.so.1
libc6	glibc	libdl.so.2
libc6	glibc	libpthread.so.0
libc6	glibc	libc.so.6
libc6	glibc	ld-linux-x86-64.so.2
libstdc++6	libstdc++	libstdc++.so.6
zlib1g	zlib	libz.so.1
libgcc1	libgcc	libgcc_s.so.1

Installing the Driver

You can use standard package management systems to install the driver.

On Debian-based systems, like Ubuntu, run the following command with root or sudo:

dpkg -i /path/to/driver/setup/XeroODBCDriverforUnix.deb 

On systems that support the RPM package format, run the following command with root or sudo:

rpm -ivh /path/to/driver/XeroODBCDriverforUnix.rpm 

Licensing the Driver

Run the following commands to license the driver. To activate a trial, omit the <key> input.

cd /opt/cdata/cdata-odbc-driver-for-xero/bin/
sudo ./install-license.sh <key>

Connecting through the Driver Manager

The driver manager loads the driver and passes function calls from the application to the driver. You need to register the driver with the driver manager and you define DSNs in the driver manager's configuration files.

The driver installation registers the driver with the unixODBC driver manager and creates a system DSN. The unixODBC driver manager can be used from Python and from many other applications. Your application may embed another driver manager.

Creating the DSN

See Using unixODBC to install unixODBC and configure DSNs. See Using the DataDirect Driver Manager to create a DSN to connect to OBIEE, Informatica, and SAS.

Connecting to a Xero API

The driver supports the following Xero APIs:

• Accounting API: Set the Schema connection property to ACCOUNTING
• Australian Payroll API: Set the Schema connection property to PAYROLLAUS
• Files API: Set the Schema connection property to FILES
• Fixed Assets API: Set the Schema connection property to ASSETS
• Projects API: Set the Schema connection property to PROJECTS

It is also recommended that you set the Tenant property, which can be the name or ID of a Xero organization. Xero allows you to authorize the driver to access multiple organizations. By default the driver will pick the first one, which may not be the one you expect if the driver is granted access to additional organizations.

If you need to confirm what organizations the driver has access to, you can connect without an Tenant and read the Tenants view. This will provide both the ID and the name of each connected organization. You should use the ID to set the Tenant property when possible since multiple organizations can have the same name.

Authenticating to Xero

All connections to Xero are authenticated using OAuth. The driver supports using PKCE applications and OAuth applications. For desktop applications, the driver's embedded application is the simplest way to authenticate.

When the driver starts, it will open a browser and Xero will request your login information. The driver will use the credentials you provide to access your Xero data. These credentials will be saved and automatically refreshed as needed. For desktop applications, the driver's default application is the simplest way to authenticate.

When the driver starts, it will open a browser and Xero will request your login information. The driver will use the credentials you provide to access your Xero data. These credentials will be saved and automatically refreshed as needed.

Refreshing OAuth Values

The driver can refresh the temporary OAuth access tokens obtained during the browser-based OAuth authentication exchange. By default, the driver saves the encrypted tokens in the odbc.ini file corresponding to the DSN. Access to this odbc.ini file can be restricted in the case of System DSNs.

To enable the automatic token exchange, you can give the driver write access to the system odbc.ini.

Installing Dependencies for OAuth Authentication

The OAuth authentication standard requires the authenticating user to interact with Xero, using a web-browser. If the first OAuth interaction is to be done on the same machine the driver is installed on, for example, a desktop application, the driver needs access to the xdg-open program, which opens the default browser.

To satisfy this dependency, install the corresponding package with your package manager:

Debian/Ubuntu Package	RHEL/CentOS/Fedora Package	File
xdg-utils	xdg-utils	xdg-open

Set the Driver Encoding

The ODBC drivers need to specify which encoding to use with the ODBC Driver Manager. By default, the CData ODBC Drivers for Unix are configured to use UTF-16 which is compatible with unixODBC, but other Driver Managers may require alternative encoding.

Alternatively, if you are using the ODBC driver from an application that uses the ANSI ODBC API it may be necessary to set the ANSI code page. For example, to import Japanese characters in an ANSI application, you can specify the code page in the config file '/opt/cdata/cdata-odbc-driver-for-xero/lib/cdata.odbc.xero.ini':

[Driver]
AnsiCodePage = 932