Setting up a MSSQL database server as part of a GitHub workflow to run tests using RSpec

gistfile1.txt

#Things that didn't work:

I started by adding a service to the test
step, using the same Docker image and passing the env vars the test used.

```yml
name: Tests
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
    services:
      mssql:
        image: mcr.microsoft.com/mssql/server:2022-latest
        env:
          MSSQL_SA_PASSWORD: yourStrongPassword1
          ACCEPT_EULA: "Y"
        ports:
          - 1433:1433
    steps: - name: Checkout code
    uses: actions/checkout@v3

....
```

The test step was already installing FreeTDS, which TinyTDS depends on. When I
originally set it up, all the documentation I found pointed me toward [getting
the source and building and installing it](https://github.com/rails-sqlserver/tiny_tds?tab=readme-ov-file#install). I followed advice in documentation
and ended up installing it like this:

```yml
- name: Install freetds
  run: |
    sudo apt-get install -y build-essential wget \
    && wget http://www.freetds.org/files/stable/freetds-1.1.24.tar.gz \
    && tar -xzf freetds-1.1.24.tar.gz \
    && cd freetds-1.1.24 \
    && ./configure --prefix=/usr/local --with-tdsver=7.3 \
    && sudo make \
    && sudo make install
```

Now when I ran specs on CI, I got an error saying that the connection failed. I
first confirmed the host and port I was using to connect to the local service.
When I changed either of these, I got a new error message saying that the
database server could not be found, so I was confident the host and port were
correct. After a bunch of googling, I found a [related GitHub
issue](https://github.com/rails-sqlserver/tiny_tds/issues/441) which points to a
[problem with the TLS handshake on
FreeTDS](https://github.com/FreeTDS/freetds/issues/299). [This
comment](https://github.com/FreeTDS/freetds/issues/299#issuecomment-620729458)
suggested using GnuTLS instead of OpenSSL for FreeTDS. I added a step to install
GnuTLS in the GitHub workflow for running tests:

```yml
- name: Install gnutls
 run: |
   wget https://www.gnupg.org/ftp/gcrypt/gnutls/v3.6/gnutls-3.6.16.tar.xz \
   && tar -xf gnutls-3.6.16.tar.xz \
   && cd gnutls-3.6.16 \
   && ./configure --prefix=/usr/local \
   && sudo make \
   && sudo make install
```

This failed because it needed Libnettle 3.4.1. So I added a step to install nettle:

```yml
- name: Install nettle
  run: |
    wget https://ftp.gnu.org/gnu/nettle/nettle-3.4.1.tar.gz \
    && tar -xzf nettle-3.4.1.tar.gz \
    && cd nettle-3.4.1 \
    && ./configure --prefix=/usr/local --disable-openssl --enable-shared \
    && sudo make \
    && sudo make install
```

What finally did work: 

Nettle installed successfully, but I still got the error `Libnettle 3.4.1 was
not found.` when installing GnuTLS. At this point, I had exhausted my limited
understanding of package management on unix and reached out for help.
[Mike](https://thoughtbot.com/blog/authors/mike-burns) jumped in to help and
noted that the FreeTDS package on Debian stable is version 1.3.17, and it uses
GnuTLS by default. This means that I could replace all the messy wget/tar/make
attempts with calls to apt-get:

```yml
- name: Install gnutls
  run: |
    sudo apt-get install gnutls-bin

- name: Install freetds
  run: |
   sudo apt-get install -y freetds-bin freetds-common freetds-dev libct4 libsybdb5
```