mssql-python 1.7.0

A Python library for interacting with Microsoft SQL Server

General Availability Release

mssql‑python is now Generally Available (GA) as Microsoft’s official Python driver for SQL Server, Azure SQL, and SQL databases in Fabric. This release delivers a production‑ready, high‑performance, and developer‑friendly experience.

What makes mssql-python different?

Powered by DDBC – Direct Database Connectivity

Most Python SQL Server drivers, including pyodbc, route calls through the Driver Manager, which has slightly different implementations across Windows, macOS, and Linux. This results in inconsistent behavior and capabilities across platforms. Additionally, the Driver Manager must be installed separately, creating friction for both new developers and when deploying applications to servers.

At the heart of the mssql-python driver is DDBC (Direct Database Connectivity) — a lightweight, high-performance C++ layer that replaces the platform’s Driver Manager.

Key Advantages:

• Provides a consistent, cross-platform backend that handles connections, statements, and memory directly.
• Interfaces directly with the native SQL Server drivers.
• Integrates with the same TDS core library that powers the ODBC driver.

Why is this architecture important?

By simplifying the architecture, DDBC delivers:

• Consistency across platforms
• Lower function call overhead
• Zero external dependencies on Windows (pip install mssql-python is all you need)
• Full control over connections, memory, and statement handling

Built with PyBind11 + Modern C++ for Performance and Safety

To expose the DDBC engine to Python, mssql-python uses PyBind11 – a modern C++ binding library.

PyBind11 provides:

• Native-speed execution with automatic type conversions
• Memory-safe bindings
• Clean and Pythonic API, while performance-critical logic remains in robust, maintainable C++.

What's new in v1.7.0

Enhancements

• UTF-16 String Performance - UTF-16 strings are now handled using simdutf and std::u16string, significantly reducing encoding/decoding overhead for Unicode-heavy workloads.
• execute() Hot Path Optimization - Optimized the execute() hot path with soft cursor reset, prepared statement caching, and guarded diagnostics, reducing per-call overhead for high-frequency queries.

Bug Fixes

• Login Failure Exception Type - Login failures are now correctly raised as mssql_python exceptions (e.g. OperationalError) instead of a generic RuntimeError.
• GIL Release During ODBC Calls - The driver now releases the GIL during all blocking ODBC statement, fetch, transaction, and connection attribute calls, improving concurrency for multi-threaded applications.
• executemany Decimal Sign Change - Fixed a RuntimeError in executemany when decimal values changed signs across rows.
• CP1252 VARCHAR Inconsistency - Fixed inconsistent retrieval of CP1252-encoded data in VARCHAR columns between Windows and Linux.
• RHEL 8 / glibc 2.28 Wheel Support - Added manylinux_2_28 build targets, enabling installation on Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8 and other glibc 2.28 compatible distributions.
• macOS Python 3.10 Universal2 Wheel - Fixed missing universal2 wheel for Python 3.10 on macOS, restoring native Apple Silicon support for that version.
• BulkCopy Empty String in NVARCHAR(MAX) - Fixed cursor.bulkcopy() failing with SQL error 40197/4804 when any row contained an empty string "" in an NVARCHAR(MAX) or VARCHAR(MAX) column. (via mssql_py_core)

What's new in v1.6.0

Enhancements

• Connection String Sanitization - Connection string sanitization has been migrated from regex-based to parser-based logic, making it more robust and consistent with connection string parsing rules.

Bug Fixes

• GIL Release During ODBC Connect/Disconnect - The driver now releases the GIL during blocking ODBC connect and disconnect calls, improving concurrency for multi-threaded applications.
• setinputsizes() SQL_DECIMAL Crash Fix - Fixed a crash in cursor.setinputsizes() when specifying SQL_DECIMAL type hints.
• ODBC Catalog fetchone() Fix - Fixed an issue where fetchone() on ODBC catalog method results returned incorrect data.
• cursor.execute() Invalid Cursor State Fix - Fixed cursor.execute() raising an Invalid cursor state error when called with reset_cursor=False.
• executemany Type Annotation Fix - Corrected the type annotation for executemany seq_of_parameters parameter to accept Mapping types.
• setup_logging Path Traversal Guard - Added path canonicalization and traversal guard to setup_logging's log_file_path parameter to prevent path traversal issues.

For more information, please visit the project link on Github: https://github.com/microsoft/mssql-python

If you have any feedback, questions or need support please mail us at [e-mail].

What's Next

As we continue to refine the driver and add new features, you can expect regular updates, optimizations, and bug fixes. We encourage you to contribute, provide feedback and report any issues you encounter, as this will help us improve the driver.