What is an ODBC Driver? An ODBC (Open Database Connectivity) driver is a software component that allows an application—such as Excel, Power BI, Tableau, or a custom script—to connect to a database using the ODBC interface. Think of it as a translator: the application speaks ODBC, and the driver translates that into the database’s native language (e.g., SQL Server, MySQL, PostgreSQL, Oracle).
# Debian/Ubuntu apt-get install odbc-postgresql yum install postgresql-odbc odbc driver install
odbcinst -j # Shows configuration files and installed drivers Once installed, you must often configure a DSN (Data Source Name) so applications can use the driver. What is an ODBC Driver
[PostgreSQL] Description = PostgreSQL ODBC driver Driver = /usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/odbc/psqlodbcw.so Setup = /usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/odbc/libpsqlodbcw.so Then define a DSN in /etc/odbc.ini : odbc driver install
odbcinst -q -d # List installed drivers Using Homebrew (simplest):
# Add Microsoft repository curl https://packages.microsoft.com/keys/microsoft.asc | apt-key add - curl https://packages.microsoft.com/config/ubuntu/22.04/prod.list > /etc/apt/sources.list.d/mssql-release.list apt-get update ACCEPT_EULA=Y apt-get install -y msodbcsql18