Dialect auto-detection provides misleading error message -------------------------------------------------------- Key: HHH-3200 URL: http://opensource.atlassian.com/projects/hibernate/browse/HHH-3200 Project: Hibernate3 Issue Type: Bug Components: core Affects Versions: 3.2.6, 3.2.5 Environment: I'm testing with 3.2.5.ga, Windows XP SP2, and SQL Server 2000. However, I'm fairly certain this will affect any OS/DB combination. Reporter: Gino A Melone If the DB connection is unable to be created in org.hibernate.cfg.SettingsFactory.buildSettings(Properties props), the error message that is returned indicates "Hibernate Dialect must be explicitly set". This message is misleading. The real problem is that auto-detection can not work because the DB connection failed and the metadata could not be retrieved. A warning is issued that explains this, but production environments often disable log4j warnings for third-party packages to maintain reasonable-sized log files. The failure to create a connection should be used to generate a useful error message. Something like: //SQL Dialect: Dialect dialect = determineDialect( props, databaseName, databaseMajorVersion ); settings.setDialect(dialect); The relevant log entries are below. -- This message is automatically generated by JIRA. - If you think it was sent incorrectly contact one of the administrators: http://opensource.atlassian.com/projects/hibernate/secure/Administrators.... - For more information on JIRA, see: http://www.atlassian.com/software/jira