Simba Backwards compatibility for v4.25+

[Tylorjg]

With the release for v4.25, new driver support was added; however, the version isn't backwards compatible with pipelines set up with the Simba driver.

It would be nice to have newer versions of Liquibase still work with the Simba driver.

[maximevw]

Hello @Tylorjg,

The new driver has been introduced to solve licensing issues (see issue #148) because Simba JDBC is no more freely accessible. Also, there is no way to introduce a dependency to the Simba JDBC driver without having the appropriate license.

If it's really required to have the compatibility with Simba driver (or other proprietary drivers for Cassandra), I suggest you to turn this discussion into a feature request and discuss it with the Liquibase team. I think the best way to provide this is to introduce a SPI and let the users with the appropriate license for other drivers like Simba implementing the interface to use their driver.

[Tylorjg]

Hello @maximevw,

You are right that this should be a feature request. The Simba driver isn't easily accessible at this time, but there are still pipelines set up that download via a direct download URL. Of course, it is unknown how long the direct download URL is going to be accessible.

It would be beneficial to all users still using the Simba driver to be able to upgrade without breaking their pipelines.

[recampbell]

Hi @Tylorjg - can you give us an idea of the errors or problems you face when you try to use the Simba driver? Is it a problem with the changesets themselves or the confiugration of Liquibase itself? If so, can you provide the changesets or configuration settings affected and explain what you think needs to be changed about them?

This information will help other users who have working Cassandra pipelines (we can include in the docs) and will help contributors understand the impact/value of this issue - especially since it seems like it may be be a larger effort.