class BaseDatabaseClient(object):
    """
    This class encapsulates all backend-specific methods for opening a
    client shell.
    """
    # This should be a string representing the name of the executable
    # (e.g., "psql"). Subclasses must override this.
    executable_name = None

    def __init__(self, connection):
        # connection is an instance of BaseDatabaseWrapper.
        self.connection = connection

    def runshell(self):
        raise NotImplementedError('subclasses of BaseDatabaseClient must provide a runshell() method')