mariusdkm · September 12, 2022 13:46 · Mar 15, 2022 · Mar 15, 2022 · Mar 15, 2022
diff --git a/readme.md b/readme.md
@@ -20,7 +20,7 @@ pip install pyodbc
 
 ## Using pyodbc
 
-You now have three way of including the driver in your python program
+You now have three ways of including the driver in your python program.  
 Note: When I was trying to connect to a MS SQL Server I had to include the port
 
 **Always replace `{var}` with your value**
@@ -61,4 +61,24 @@ Then you can use the name you put in as `DSN NAME` in your python program
 ```py
 import pyodbc
 pyodbc.connect('DSN={DSN NAME};UID={username};PWD={password}')
-```
+```
+
+## Other ways of connecting to a MS SQL Server
+
+There is also a port on mac ports which is the official ODBC Driver for Microsoft SQL Server named [msodbcsql17](https://ports.macports.org/port/msodbcsql17).  
+
+But at the time of writing an arm version for M1 macs was not available, so it doesn't work, and always threw an error.  
+It should work though on macs with an intel chip.
+
+When installing `msodbcsql17` it automatically creates a config in `/opt/local/etc/odbcinst.ini`, so one should be able to just use it in python using `ODBC Driver 17 for SQL Server` as the driver name:
+
+```py
+import pyodbc
+pyodbc.connect('DRIVER=ODBC Driver 17 for SQL Server;SERVER={IP address};PORT=1433;DATABASE={database};UID={username};PWD={password}')
+```
+
+When trying this on an M1 chip one will always get the error `[unixODBC][Driver Manager]Can't open lib '/opt/local/lib/libmsodbcsql.17.dylib' : file not found (0) (SQLDriverConnect)` even though that file exists.  
+This is because the file is in the architecture `x86_64` as seen with `lipo -info /opt/local/lib/libmsodbcsql.17.dylib`.
+Before knowing this I tried forcing pyodbc to use it by installing it with the following command. 
+`LDFLAGS="-L/opt/local/lib -liodbc -liodbcinst" CFLAGS="-I/opt/local/include" pip install pyodbc`
+This just resulted in the literal crash of the python programm with no error message from python.
diff --git a/readme.md b/readme.md
@@ -1,7 +1,7 @@
-I didn't find any tutorial using mac ports to install pyodbc on a mac with m1, so here is my way, maybe it helps somebody.
+I didn't find any tutorial using **mac ports** to install pyodbc on a mac with m1, so here is my way, maybe it helps somebody.
 My goal was to talk to a MS SQL Server.
 
-I got a lot of my information from this gist https://gist.github.com/Bouke/10454272
+If you want to use Homebrew instead or more information please look here https://gist.github.com/Bouke/10454272
 
 ## Installing pyodbc
 

diff --git a/readme.md b/readme.md
@@ -0,0 +1,64 @@
+I didn't find any tutorial using mac ports to install pyodbc on a mac with m1, so here is my way, maybe it helps somebody.
+My goal was to talk to a MS SQL Server.
+
+I got a lot of my information from this gist https://gist.github.com/Bouke/10454272
+
+## Installing pyodbc
+
+The only dependency you are going to need is `freetds`, it will install automatically it's dependencies.
+**BUT** because we later on need the shared object file `libtdsodbc.so` you need to install it with as the variant `+odbc`.
+```bash
+sudo port install freetds +odbc
+```
+If everything went smoothly you should now have the following file `/opt/local/lib/libtdsodbc.so`
+
+Next you can already install `pyodbc`
+```bash
+# (in your python enviroment)
+pip install pyodbc
+```
+
+## Using pyodbc
+
+You now have three way of including the driver in your python program
+Note: When I was trying to connect to a MS SQL Server I had to include the port
+
+**Always replace `{var}` with your value**
+
+### Just use the path of the library
+```py
+import pyodbc
+pyodbc.connect('DRIVER=/opt/local/lib/libtdsodbc.so;SERVER={IP address};PORT=1433;DATABASE={database};UID={username};PWD={password}')
+```
+
+### Using unixODBC
+Put the following into `/opt/local/etc/odbcinst.ini`
+```ini
+[{CONFIG NAME}]
+Description = ODBC for FreeTDS
+Driver = /opt/local/lib/libtdsodbc.so
+Setup = /opt/local/lib/libtdsodbc.so
+FileUsage = 1
+```
+Then you can use the name you put in as `CONFIG NAME` in your python program
+```py
+import pyodbc
+pyodbc.connect('DRIVER=CONFIG NAME;SERVER={IP address};PORT=1433;DATABASE={database};UID={username};PWD={password}')
+```
+
+### Configure a DSN (Data source name)
+  * Modifiy `/opt/local/etc/odbcinst.ini` as described in "Using unixODBC"
+  * Modifiy `/opt/local/etc/odbc.ini` to include the following:
+  ```ini
+[{DSN NAME}]
+Driver = {CONFIG NAME}
+Server = {IP address}
+Port = 1433
+# You can also include more variables here
+```
+
+Then you can use the name you put in as `DSN NAME` in your python program
+```py
+import pyodbc
+pyodbc.connect('DSN={DSN NAME};UID={username};PWD={password}')
+```