I have a sybase database in a file. How do I determine for which version of sybase it is for? - sybase-asa

Question

I've been handed a file which appears to me to be a Sybase database file from some older Sybase version. I have d-loaded the latest sybase package from sybase and tried using that to connect to the contents but failed. Can someone suggest to me how to determine which version of sybase (and perhaps even which sybase db product) my file represents?
This is how the beggining of the file looks in a text editor:
I ě ^şzÚ ÖK n´Ą ÍĄ YŘ l f ˙˙˙˙˙˙˙˙ ˙˙˙˙˙˙˙˙WATCOM
International Corp., Copyright (c)
1987, 1994 WATCOM International Corp.,
Copyright (c) 1987, 1994 WATCOM
International Corp., Copyright (c)
1987, 1994 WATCOM International Corp.,
Copyright (c) 1987, 1994 WATCOM
International Corp., Copyright (c)
1987, 1994 WATCOM International Corp.,
Copyright (c) 1987, 1994 WATCOM
International Corp., Copyright (c)
1987, 1994 WATCOM International Corp.,
Copyright (c) 1987, 1994 WATCOM
International Corp., Copyright (c)
1987, 1994 WATCOM International Corp.,
Copyright (c) 1987, 1994 WATCOM
International Corp., Copyright (c)
1987, 1994 WATCOM International Corp.,
Copyright (c) 1987, 1994 WATCOM
International Corp., Copyright (c)
1987, 1994 WATCOM International Corp.,
Copyright (c) 1987, 1994 WATCOM
International Corp., Copyright (c)
1987, 1994 WATCOM International Corp.,
Copyright (c) 1987, 1994 WATCOM
International Corp., Copyright (c)
1987, 1994 WATCOM International Corp.,
Copyright (c) 1987, 1994 WATCOM
International Corp., Copyright (c)
1987, 1994 WATCOM International Corp.,
Copyright (c) 1987, 1994 WATCOM
International Corp., Copyright (c)
1987, 1994 WATCOM International Corp.,
Copyright (c) 1987, 1994 WATCOM
International Corp., Copyright (c)
1987, 1994 WATCOM International Corp.,
Copyright (c) 1987, 1994 WATCOM
International Corp., Copyright (c)
1987, 1994 WATCOM International Corp.,
Copyright (c) 1987, 1994 WATCOM
International Corp., Copyright (c)
1987, 1994 WATCOM International Corp.,
Copyright (c) 1987, 1994 WATCOM
International Corp., Copyright (c)
1987, 1994 WATCOM International Corp.,
Copyright (c) 1987, 1994 WATCOM
International Corp., Copyright (c)
1987, 1994 WATCOM International Corp.,
Copyright (c) 1987, 1994 WATCOM
International Corp., Copyright (c)
1987, 1994 WATCOM International Corp.,
Copyright (c) 1987, 1994 WATCOM
International Corp., Copyright (c)
1987, BASEN j ‘
Ă™pGđČžrEđÇšmAę»b4Ô¨~PHŽ
j $ ¨ ýŰ ë HolBASENş
omain_name from SYS.SYSDOMAIN where
domain_id=SYSCOLUMN.domain_id),
nulls,width,scale,pkey,column_id,"default",
SYSCOLUMN.remarks from SYS.SYSCOLUMN
join SYS.SYSTABLE7€f
SYSCOLUMNSVIEW˙create view
SYS.SYSCOLUMNS(creator,cname,tname,coltype,nulls,length,
syslength,in_primary_key,colno,default_value,remarks)
as select(select user_name from
SYS.SYSUSERPERM where
user_id=SYSTABLE.creator),
column_name,table_name, (select d ·
NŃ €e SYSUSERPERMSVIEWŁcreate
view SYSUSERPERMS as select
user_id,user_name,resourceauth,dbaauth,
Thanks!
Filip

Answer 1

Any database created with any version of SQL Anywhere (or Watcom SQL) up to and including version 9 can be used with a version 9 SA server. If you have a version 10 or 11 server (version 12 is in beta right now), you need to unload it and reload it before the version 10/11 server can run it.
Note that SA version 9 will be end-of-life'd in (checks watch) 11 days.

Answer 2

As an alternative you can download older versions of sybase and try to connect to the given file.