Extracting Informix data

[Alex Rebrik]

Greetings everyone!

I'm in a process of trying to convert an Informix DB to MySQL, at first it seemed like a straight forward though somewhat tedious process:

- extract schema with "dbschema"
- extract data in form of SQL statements with "dbexport"
- hack a quick script(s) to convert DDL schema to CREATE / GRANT statements (
- import into MySQL

the problem I'm having is that I can not afford to take the Informix DB off-line so that "dbexport" can do its job which requires an exclusive lock on all tables (records?).

QUESTION: Is there any other way to export data to a text file in form of INSERT statements from a live DB?

Pardon me if I'm missing the obvious - I've never worked with Informix before and all I know of it is what I was able to piece together from FAQs / forums out there.

Sincerely,
Alex Rebrik