I have a database which is part of a closed system and the end-user of the system would like me to write some reports using the data contains in a Sybase SQL Anywhere Database. The system doesn't provide the reports that they are looking for, but access to the data is available by connecting to this ASA database.

The vendor of the software would likely prefer I not update the database and I am basically read-only as I am just doing some reporting. All is good, seal is not broken, warranty still intact, etc,etc..

My main problem is that I am using jConnect in order to read from the database, and jConnect requires some "jConnect Routines" to be installed into the database. I've found that I can make this happen by just doing an "Alter Database Upgrade JConnect On", but I just don't fully understand what this does and if there is any risks associated with it.

So, my question is does anyone know exactly what jConnect routines are and how are they used? Is there any risk adding these to a database? Should I be worried about this?