none of the dbase functions apear to work. 

here is the create script which fails

<?php
// "database" name
 $dbname = "srnews.dbf";

    // database "definition"
    $def =
        array(
            array("sdate",    "N", 16, 0),
            array("edate", 	  "N", 16, 0),
            array("dspedate", "L"),
            array("title",    "C", 128),
            array("url",      "C", 80),
            array("desc",     "C", 768)
        );

    // creation
    if (!dbase_create($dbname, $def))
        print "<strong>Error!</strong>";
    print "database creation done.";
?>