Error: Cannot find message file. Check INFORMIXDIR and DBLANG

I got this message when I violated the Informix "Rule of Ten", which addresses the order in which Informix products must be installed (TEN = Tools, Engine, Network).

The kicker here is - I knew about the rule. But when I installed the ISQL product on a already working system and everything seemed fine - I thought - OK fine - let sleeping dogs lie. And it did lie, until the next time I bounced the server, weeks later. Then, when the Informix server tried to come back up, it failed with the above error message.

Kicker - part II - OK I thought - I violated the rule of TEN and this is what I get. No problem - I need to simply re-run "./installserver". I did - and - no change. It STILL failed.

It turns out that I also needed to re-copy the Informix server media from the CD. THEN re-run ./installserver. THAT fixed the problem.

BTW, this was on a 7.30.UC7 system where the manual says the order of installs is not important. Don't believe it.