Database Revival - Firebird mentioned

The market may be consolidating, but new players are jumping in with low-cost and open-source alternatives. There's a lot to choose from-just be sure the new products will grow with your needs.

Article By Charles Babcock
InformationWeek
..::firebird::..

Firebird Library 0.82

Open Source Library No Data Aware for direct access to Firebird Relational Database from Borland Delphi / Kylix , Freepascal and Lazarus Changes in this version

New component TFBLParamDsql (thanks to Uwe Willmann) it's a direct TFBLDSQL descendant supporting named parameters instead of "?" placeholders, like IBX and IBObjects. lazarus package (fblib.lpk) now works with version 0.9.10 of lazarus ide.

..::firebird::..::delphi..::..pascal..::..kylix::..

FireRuby 0.4.0

Project: FireRuby

Its been a while but version 0.4.0 of the FireRuby library has been released. The two big highlights for this release are some changes to aid in the development of the Firebird ActiveRecord adapter and the addition of functionality to obtain type information for database fields. Consult the documentation accompanying the release for more information.

..::firebird::..::ruby::..::rubyonrails::..

JayBird 2.0 released

On behalf of the JayBird team I am pleased to announce that JayBird 2.0.0 is
released. You can download it from the SourceForge.net site, the links on
the Wiki will be updated in two days (currently I'm on Firebird Conference
2005 in Prague).

Roman

..::firebird::..::java::..

Railroad Barons, follow-up Posted by Josh Berkus

"Last week Lewis Cunningham (the guy who turned me on to ITToolbox, if that matters) responded to Railroad Barons and Crippleware strongly enough for me to take it as a compliment. Since it's been a while (due to my travel schedule) I'm responding here rather than in a comment on Lewis's blog."

..::firebird::..

Fyracle support for Delphi

Janus (janus-software.com) wrote on fyracle newsgroup:

"Please find a new build of fyracle.dll in the /dowloads area.
Let us know how it works for you.

We're all at the FB conference in Prague, so if it works okay we can announce Delphi support at the conference. "
[ED: seems to be working with ibexpress (based on delphi)]

..::firebird::..::oracle::..::delphi::..

Firebird 2.0 Beta 1: New Features

Firebird 2.0 Beta 1 is available - follow the link in the download section. Some of the new features:

1. incremental hot backup
2. derived tables (subqueries in FROM clause)
3. storing databases on raw devices
4. new EXECUTE BLOCK allows the client to call an "unnamed stored procedure" which is sent as a command
5. IIF(condition, value1, value2) added as a shortcut to CASE WHEN condition THEN value1 ELSE value2 END
6. CROSS JOIN is supported ("a CROSS JOIN b" equals "a INNER JOIN b ON 1 = 1")
7. ROWS introduced to replace FIRST/SKIP
8. SEQUENCE introduced as a shortcut to GENERATOR
9. "NEXT VALUE FOR sequence" introduced as a shortcut to "GEN_ID(sequence, 1)"
10. Default values for stored procedure arguments
11. Index length limit (252 bytes) is removed
12. Expression indexes introduced
13. Optimizer improvements
14. New string functions: LOWER() and TRIM()
15. Security improvements (better password encryption, active protection agains brute-force attacks, users can change their own passwords...)
16. and many others...

See more in the release notes (PDF inside a ZIP).
Ps: article source dotnetfirebird

..::firebird::..

Firebird 2.0 Beta 1

Is available in the pre-release area on SourceForge...
Watch the links, as they may wrap.

Official Windows Setup and Installer For Classic and SuperServer Beta 1.0 (.exe) (4.1mb)
http://firebird.sourceforge.net/download/prerelease/win32/Firebird-2.0.0.11675-0-Win32.exe

Embedded Server for Windows Beta 1.0 (.zip) (2.5mb)
http://firebird.sourceforge.net/download/prerelease/win32/Firebird-2.0.0.11675-0_embed_win32.zip

Classic for Linux Beta 1.0 (.rpm) (4.4mb)
http://firebird.sourceforge.net/download/prerelease/linux-x86/FirebirdCS-2.0.0.11675-Beta1.i686.rpm

Classic for Linux Beta 1.0 (.tar.gz) (4.3mb)
http://firebird.sourceforge.net/download/prerelease/linux-x86/FirebirdCS-2.0.0.11675-Beta1.i686.tar.gz

SuperServer for Linux NPTL Beta 1.0 (.rpm) (4.5mb)
http://firebird.sourceforge.net/download/prerelease/linux-x86-nptl/FirebirdSS-2.0.0.11675-Beta1.nptl.i686.rpm

SuperServer for Linux NPTL Beta 1.0 (.tar.gz) (4.4mb)
http://firebird.sourceforge.net/download/prerelease/linux-x86-nptl/FirebirdSS-2.0.0.11675-Beta1.nptl.i686.tar.gz


Paul Beach





..::firebird::..

Fyracle 0.8.9 for Linux released

Changes:

- Added support for stored functions & procedures
in other languages than PL/SQL
- Added plugin for Java stored functions & procedures
- Added support for external C stored functions

Support for external stored procedures has been
contributed by Eugeney Putilin, Vlad Horsun and
Roman Rokytskyy.

Download:

The installers are available through the Janus
Software website and ftp servers. See:
http://www.janus-software.com/runtime_dl.html
for the free runtime & developer demo
and see:
http://www.janus-software.com/fb_buy.html
for the full developer version.


Upgrade:

The recommended upgrade procedure is to first
uninstall any previous versions of Fyracle and only
then to install the new 0.8.9 release. Remember
to save your configuration files (firebird.conf
and aliases.conf) if you changed them!

The uninstaller has a start menu entry on Windows
and can be found at the top of the install
directory on Linux and Windows.

If you want to use the new Java stored procedures,
please review your java configuration file (jvm.conf)
after installation. The first non-comment line should
contain a path to your java virtual machine (jvm.so).

On Linux, getting to a working JVM install is not so
easy: several shared libraries much be reachable via
the library search path.

Roadmap/Outlook:

An updated version of Compiere will be available soon.
A dotnet/mono plugin is actively being developed.
..::firebird::..::oracle::..::database::.::java::.::mono::.

OpenDBCon 2005 - Firebird, Postgresql, Mysql talks

Holger Klemt had firebird talks in this conference

http://www.opendbcon.net/?dir=1&id=1

I spoted the news on Josh Berkus's blog

It's pretty exciting to have all of these open source database developers in one place. So far: HSQLDB, Derby, SQLite, Firebird, Ingres, us (PostgreSQL) and of course a huge MySQL contingent (they're one of the conference sponsors). It's definitely a cool alternative to the database track at OSCON, because here we can do technical talks liable to be comprehended only by other database geeks.

http://blogs.ittoolbox.com/database/soup/archives/006461.asp?rss=1

..::firebird::..

Open Source Business Accounting with Quasar (hosted on Firebird+Postgresql)

Quasar comes with drivers for Firebird (a cross-platform, open source relational database system originally based on InterBase) and PostgreSQL

http://www.informit.com/articles/article.asp?p=424449

..::firebird::..::postgresql::..

Sparky IV on eBay (Firebird RDBMS EXCLUSIVE Geek Toy)

Sparky IV has just gone up on eBay for auction (Foundation fund-raising). Search in Computers & IT for "Sparky IV Firebird". The main listing is
a www.ebay.com.au but you can reach it with that search from the others as
well.

Happy bidding! :-)) Please feel free to blog it!

Helen
..::firebird::..

Oracle's free software foray scorned

"Paul Beach, an administrator of the open source Firebird project, agreed that Oracle Express cannot be compared with the open source databases Firebird and ... "
Full story at zdnetwork

http://news.zdnet.co.uk/software/applications/0,39020384,39235152,00.htm

..::firebird::..mysql::..oracle::..postgresql::..

firebird vs mysql vs postresql

Some benchmarks with above databases

In general they claim that Firebird is much more faster and scales beter than MySQL
and PostgreSQL.

http://noldor.iglu.cz/root_cz_firebird_article.pdf


original article is in slovak on root.cz

Feel free to comment the article (for wich is linked an PDF translation) at
http://www.root.cz/clanky/mysql-vs-postgresql-vs-firebird/nazory/pridat/
In default settings, you can write your name in the third text field
from top and the post title into the fourth one. Leave the radio button
as it is, as most of you probably aren't registered root.cz readers. ;-)

..::firebird::..mysql::..postgresql::..

Most valuable new features in Firebird 2.0

Ann:
"Fixing indexes so garbage collecting records that participate in long
index duplicate chains is fast."
Thomas Steinmaurer:"Beside the ODS change in general (new index structures,
max. index length much higher, expression index, raised exception
message length, RDB$DESCRIPTION fields for other database objects, ...),
the following are on top of my "most valuable" list:

- Non-exclusive access when creating FOREIGN KEYs
- New database shutdown modes
- Sequence and new cursor syntax
- User-definable context variables (way cool!!!)
- Optimizer and buffer cache improvements
- Derived tables (how did I missed them when coming from Oracle)
- New INTL interface"
Frank:
"not to forget nbak"
Zaher:
"- EXECUTE BLOCK, it is like on the fly procedure
- Default paremeters in stored procedures"
Simon Carter:
"EXECUTE BLOCK
Get/Set Context - Because it paves the way for easily adding new built in
functions in future releases :-)
IIF
SUBSTRING enhancements
NEXT VALUE FOR
User can modify own passwords
Extending CREATE OR ALTER syntax to more objects."

..::firebird::..

Nice feature request for firebird 2.0, firebird 3.0

Submitted By: Valdir Marcos da Silva

Initial Comment:
Using FB 1.5.2, via Delphi or C/C++ programming, I just
can retrieve from the server:
- name of users conected;
- DBFileName opended in my conection;
- Fetches
- CurrentMemory (in bytes) used by FB

Could I suggest here (or should I address it where to?)
in FB 2.0 or 3.0 about this subject?
The information available could be:
- the DBFileNames opened;
- memory (in MB) used by each FDB;
- fetches used by each FDB;
- locks [Is it possible to show who user(s) is locking
which table(s)/record(s)?] used by each FDB;
- users (name, IP, memory used, fetches, id of the
transactions being used, locks) in each FDB;
- log of when the FB server were started/stoped;
- log of commands sent to the server, like SQL monitors
collect;

Could we get this information via select against
special system tables?

Obtaining this information from select would be much
more ease than by developing programs via API.

Best regards,

Valdir Marcos

..::firebird::..

Fyracle 0.8.9 released

Changes:

- Added support for stored functions & procedures
in other languages than PL/SQL
- Added plugin for Java stored functions & procedures
- Added support for external C stored functions

Support for external stored procedures has been
contributed by Eugeney Putilin, Vlad Horsun and
Roman Rokytskyy.

The Linux builds are expected to be available during
the coming week.

Download:

The installers are available through the Janus
Software website and ftp servers. See:
http://www.janus-software.com/runtime_dl.html
for the free runtime & developer demo
and see:
http://www.janus-software.com/fb_buy.html
for the full developer version.


Upgrade:

The recommended upgrade procedure is to first
uninstall any previous versions of Fyracle and only
then to install the new 0.8.9 release. Remember
to save your configuration files (firebird.conf
and aliases.conf) if you changed them!

The uninstaller has a start menu entry on Windows
and can be found at the top of the install
directory on Linux and Windows.

If you want to use the new Java stored procedures,
please review your java configuration file (jvm.conf)
after installation. The first non-comment line should
contain a path to your java virtual machine (jvm.dll).

Roadmap/Outlook:

The Linux build and an updated version of Compiere
will be available soon.


..::firebird::..::oracle::..

Building debian package part2 - including svn hackery with added bonus that changes are tracked

marius popa wrote:

> An small guide for building it from sources (tested it
> on etch and should work on others :unstable, ubuntu breezy)

Thanks. Here's another one, including svn hackery with added bonus that
changes are tracked  :-) 

get upstream source (.tar.bz2) and repack it:
http://prdownloads.sourceforge.net/firebird/firebird-1.5.2.4731.tar.bz2?download

$ bzcat firebird-1.5.2.4731.tar.bz2 | gzip > firebird2_1.5.2.orig.tar.gz

untar

$ tar xzf firebird2_1.5.2.orig.tar.gz
$ cd firebird-1.5.2.4731

get debian/

$ svn co svn://svn.debian.org/pkg-firebird/trunk/debian

ready... steady... go!

$ debuild -i
or
$ dpkg-buildpackage -i

this shall complain if some build-depends package is missing. install
what needed

build result is in ../
"-i" to debuild/dpkg-buildpackage tells dpkg-source to ignore .svn/ dirs
when generating diff.gz


Now is the funny part. You have something to contribute!
1. Ask to be included to pkg-firebird project on alioth.
2. in the checkout command above replace svn://svn.debian.org with
svn+ssh://svn.debian.org/svn

firebird2 uses dpatch for patch management.

3. read debian/README.dpatch and follow instructions there
4. commit your changes in debian/
5. Nice work!

If stuck, ask on pkg-firebird for a hint  :-) 
-- 
Damyan Ivanov  

..::firebird::..::debian::..::ubuntu::..

Building debian package - nano howto

An small guide for building it from sources (tested it
on etch and should work on others :unstable, ubuntu breezy)

Install all packages required for building it

http://www.debian.org/doc/manuals/maint-guide/ch-start.en.html

add [optional]

deb ftp://www.creditreform.bg/public sid main
deb-src ftp://www.creditreform.bg/public sid main

in file
/etc/apt/sources.list

apt-get update
apt-get upgrade

apt-get source firebird2

cd firebird2-1.5.2

debbuild

[wait until DONE]
cd ../

dpkg -i *.deb
where * is package you need {superserver,classic}

..::firebird::..::debian::..::ubuntu::..

Firebird V1.5.2 Classic Server for HPUX11 is available

Firebird V1.5.2 Classic Server for HPUX11 is available for download.
..::firebird::..::unix::..::hp::..

Fyracle 0.8.9pre2 released

A second pre-release is available for beta testers. The full public release may shift into next week, to enable including the final release of JayBird 2.0.0

Source for news: fyracle.org

..::firebird::..::oracle::..

1.5.2-9 is ready to be uploaded to debian archive.

Changelog since last upload (1.5.2-7) can be seen below my signature.

Source/binary packages are on
 deb ftp://www.creditreform.bg/public sid main
 deb-src ftp://www.creditreform.bg/public sid main

Package builds in pbuilder, has no new lintian warnings[1] and my tests show it
is OK.

Francesco, may I ask you to upload it in the archive? In case you rebuild the
source package (and .changes), please remember to use "-v1.5.2-7" to make
.changes get -8 and -9 changelogs and the "Closes: xyz" correctly.


Thanks in advance
dam

[1] there is one lintian warning about unknown archtectures. This warning is
because type-handling is used to set package architectures and `type-handling
i386,amd64 any' returns much too optimistic set of architectures like
freebsd-i386, hurd-amd64 and similar. I am not yet certain if this is a bad thing.

--
Damyan Ivanov                              Creditreform Bulgaria
divanov@creditreform.bg              http://www.creditreform.bg/
phone: +359(2)928-2611, 929-3993            fax: +359(2)920-0994
mob. +359(88)856-6067               dam@jabber.minus273.org/Gaim


firebird2 (1.5.2-9) unstable; urgency=low
.
  * Added README.dpatch in debian/ to help further maintainers/QA team in
    handling this package if such need araises.
    Thaks to Florian Ernst.
  * Added README.Debian to /usr/share/doc/firebird2-examples, explaining how
    to prepare employee sample database for usage.
    Thanks to Marius Popa.
  * Corrected firebird2-{super,classic}-server.{postinst,preinst,prerm} to put
    correct data in SYSDBA.password. s/PASSWD/PASSWORD/
.
firebird2 (1.5.2-8) unstable; urgency=low
.
  * "Cleaning up the house"
.
  * debian/control.in: Fix short description of firebird2-super-server.
    Closes: #299983
  * Make editline to not rely on system vis.h and always use its own.
    Fixes FTBFS with kerberos4kth-dev 1.2.2-11: undefined reference to
    `strunvis' (Closes: #283911)
    Reported and fix suggested by Kalle Olavi Niemitalo 
  * Improve long descriptions of libfbembed1 and libfbclient1.
    Closes: #329330 "libfbclient1: long description lacks everything"
    Gerfried Fuchs  spotted this. Thanks.
  * Corrected sections:
    - libfbclient1, libfbembed1 -> libs
    - firebird2-utils-* -> utils
    - firebird2-dev -> libdevel
    - firebird2-examples -> doc
    Gerfried Fuchs  spotted this too. Thanks again.
  * debian/README.64bit: add note about 64/32-bit incompatibility of
    on-disk-structure of databases
  * Fix typo in debian/make_packages.sh, causing UDF definition .sql files to
    be installed in -classic-server. Now they go in -server-common.
    Closes: #322199 firebird2-classic-server: Missing sql for functions of
    ib_udf and fbudf
  * firebird2-classic-server: xinetd configuration file is now installed
    regardless of xinetd presense. Provided xinetd configuration is disabled,
    however.
  * fmbgr.bin fixed to point to /var/log/firebird.log when a problem occurs.
    Prevoiusly pointed to $FIREBIRD/log/firebird.log
    + debian/patches/fbmgr_correct_log_path.dpatch
  * Turn off echo when asking for sysdba password
  * Ask for sysdba password only on one is not yet set (very first install)
  * Move SYSDBA.password from /usr/lib/firebird2 to /etc/firebird2
  * /etc/init.d/firebird2: source /etc/firebird2/SYSDBA.password to get sysdba
    password.
  * pre-boot autotools
    + debian/patches/autoboot.dpatch
    + remove autoconf and libtool from Build-Depends
  * update src/extern/editline/config.{guess,sub} to those from 2005-09-13
    + fixes two lintian warnings
  * aliases.conf: use /var/lib/firebird2/data for employee.fdb
  * firebird-classic-server.prerm: detect active connections using
    fb_lock_print

..::firebird::..

Firebird Conference Ad on debcentral.org

"I am pleased to inform you that your banner ad is now active on
DebCentral.org. I apologize for the delay in getting it published. If
there is any more we can do for you, please don't hesitate to contact
us. Thank you.

Best Regards,
Josh King"

[ED:Thank you Josh]

..::firebird::..::debian::..

Fyracle 0.8.9pre released

Fyracle 0.8.9pre released
==============================

Changes:

- Added support for stored functions & procedures
in other languages than PL/SQL
- Added plugin for Java stored functions & procedures
- Added support for external C stored functions

Support for external stored procedures has been
contributed by Eugeney Putilin, Vlad Horsun and
Roman Rokytskyy.

Download:

This pre-release is available to beta testers only.
Only a Win32 version is available at this point in
time.


Upgrade:

The recommended upgrade procedure is to first
uninstall any previous versions of Fyracle and only
then to install the new 0.8.9 release. Remember
to save your configuration files (firebird.conf
and aliases.conf) if you changed them!

The uninstaller has a start menu entry on Windows
and can be found at the top of the install
directory on Linux and Windows.

Please review your java configuration file after
installation. The first non-comment line should
contain a path to your java virtual machine (jvm.dll),
the second non-comment line should contain a path
to the plugin jdbc driver.


Roadmap/Outlook:

Full public releases of Fyracle 0.8.9 should be available
in the course of the week commencing 17 October.

..::firebird::..::oracle::..

Second issue of “The InterBase and Firebird Developer Magazine” is published.

It is available for downloading on http://www.ibdeveloper.com. Also you may find a lot of information there: articles from previous issues, bonus articles, recent news and events, advertising articles.

We invite you to participate in blog discussions – place your comments, ask questions and do not hesitate to contact us (readers@ibdeveloper.com)!

Looking forward for your feedback!

Sincerely yours,
Alexey Kovyazin
Chief Editor
The InterBase and Firebird Developer Magazine
www.ibdeveloper.com

..::firebird::..

MDO Team announce a new version of Mercury Database Objects

Artur Anjos and the MDO Team announce a new version of Mercury Database Objects, an open source data-access component suite, providing direct access to Firebird from Borland Delphi applications. MDO is a descendant of FreeIBComponents by Greg Deatz, so IBX users looking for a migration path to Firebird can have a look at these. Download MDO here.
..::firebird::..::delphi::..::pascal::..

Firebird JDBC Driver V1.5.6 Final and V2.0 Release Candidate 3 are now available for download

Jaybird (Firebird Class 4 JCA-JDBC Driver) V1.5.6 and V2.0 Release Candidate 3 are now available for download.
..::firebird::..::java::..::jdbc::..

Firebird .NET Data Provider V1.7.1 Release CaFirebird .NET Data Provider V1.7.1 Release Candidate 3

Carlos Guzmán Álvarez has announced the availability of the Firebird .NET Data Provider V1.7.1 Release Candidate 3 for download with improved input parameter handling.

..::firebird::..::mono::..::.net::..

Results of the Race to Linux

"CodeProject today announced the winners. In one case an application
was rewritten line-by-line with PHP, which took twenty three hours."

"The Reports Starter Kit and TimeTracker were ported to Linux using
Mono and the database replaced with Firebird SQL."

http://www.mono-project.com/news/archive/2005/Oct-11.html
..::firebird::..

firebird2_1.5.2-8 ready for testing in Debian Unstable (aka sid)

I've prepared the next upload of firebird2-1.5.2.

Source and binary packages are in ftp://www.creditreform.bg/public/dists/sid/main

It would be nice if any of you wishes to help by installing/upgrading the packages.

All packages and the Release files are signed by me, so you can verify the
signatures with apt 0.6.

Revision history is available on
http://svn.debian.org/wsvn/pkg-firebird/trunk/debian/?rev=0&sc=0

I'll wait a week for bugreports and then ask Francesco for an upload.

Changelog follows:

firebird2 (1.5.2-8) unstable; urgency=low

* "Cleaning up the house"

* debian/control.in: Fix short description of firebird2-super-server.
  Closes: #299983
* Make editline to not rely on system vis.h and always use its own.
  Fixes FTBFS with kerberos4kth-dev 1.2.2-11: undefined reference to
  `strunvis' (Closes: #283911)
  Reported and fix suggested by Kalle Olavi Niemitalo 
* Improve long descriptions of libfbembed1 and libfbclient1.
  Closes: #329330 "libfbclient1: long description lacks everything"
  Gerfried Fuchs  spotted this. Thanks.
* Corrected sections:
  - libfbclient1, libfbembed1 -> libs
  - firebird2-utils-* -> utils
  - firebird2-dev -> libdevel
  - firebird2-examples -> doc
  Gerfried Fuchs  spotted this too. Thanks again.
* debian/README.64bit: add note about 64/32-bit incompatibility of
  on-disk-structure of databases
* Fix typo in debian/make_packages.sh, causing UDF definition .sql files to
  be installed in -classic-server. Now they go in -server-common.
  Closes: #322199 firebird2-classic-server: Missing sql for functions of
  ib_udf and fbudf
* firebird2-classic-server: xinetd configuration file is now installed
  regardless of xinetd presense. Provided xinetd configuration is disabled,
  however.
* fmbgr.bin fixed to point to /var/log/firebird.log when a problem occurs.
  Prevoiusly pointed to $FIREBIRD/log/firebird.log
  + debian/patches/fbmgr_correct_log_path.dpatch
* Turn off echo when asking for sysdba password
* Ask for sysdba password only on one is not yet set (very first install)
* Move SYSDBA.password from /usr/lib/firebird2 to /etc/firebird2
* /etc/init.d/firebird2: source /etc/firebird2/SYSDBA.password to get sysdba
  password.
* pre-boot autotools
  + debian/patches/autoboot.dpatch
  + remove autoconf and libtool from Build-Depends
* update src/extern/editline/config.{guess,sub} to those from 2005-09-13
  + fixes two lintian warnings
* aliases.conf: use /var/lib/firebird2/data for employee.fdb
* firebird-classic-server.prerm: detect active connections using
  fb_lock_print

-- Damyan Ivanov   Sat,  8 Oct 2005 20:47:51 +0300

-- Damyan Ivanov Creditreform Bulgaria
divanov at creditreform.bg
..::firebird::..::debian::..::ubuntu::..

quote of the day - claudio valderama

This what I found in firebird check-ins archive

"Trying to constify Vulcan from pure source code inspection. Now Jim's turn to try to compile."

and Jim's response

"From time to time it becomes appropriate to elect project members to
semi-honorary office.  I, for example, am the Project Wolf.
Accordingly, it gives me great pleasure to nominate Claudio to the
official Firebird Const-able."

..::firebird::..

c't Magazine Database Contest

Thanks to Heiko Tappe, we now have the specs and links for the database
programming contest translated to English and hosted at our own website.

URL:

http://firebird.sourceforge.net/connect/ct-dbContest.html

Take a look and have a go!
Good luck!

cheers,
Helen

..::firebird::..

Firebird and Postfix

Is there any interest at all in getting Firebird support within Postfix?

I have been working on implementing this for my own use and am willing to make it generally available once it is complete if there is interest.

Regards,

Dan Wilson

[ed:Sure we are interested about it , maybe we can write an howto for
postfix to be added on http://www.postfix.org (watch Database support
area)]

firebird slackware 10.2 package on the way

Hugo Bernier wrote on support list:
"I'm creating a slackware 10.2 package for my own use of
Firebird-1.5.3-RC1. When Firebird 1.5.3 goes public, I'll probably
submit the package for public consumption.

I will undoubtedly do the same for firebird 2.0.x

I would like to use part of the description of firebird on the main
website for the package description, and part of it in a file that
details the licensing scheme of firebird. I was curious who I should
be asking permission."


..::firebird::..::linux::..::slackware::..

Last day for early bird discount

Today is the last day that a conference attendee can get the "early bird" discount. The conference will cover Firebird developments and roadmap, development technologies (delphi, java, .net & php; 1/2/3-tier, SOA's), user experiences and applications, and developer tips and tricks. Best of all, the conference will enable you to meet many of the core developers and personalities.

..::firebird::..

IBAnalyst 1.9 -released

We are proudly present to you the new version of our unique analytic
tool – IBAnalyst 1.9. Now IBAnalyst brings you

the new quality of database statistics analysis – it can load metadata
of the database and provide more exact hints

and recommendations.

Also the full version contains several white papers and "how-to guides"
regarding database statistics interpretation

and database optimization.

What’s new In IBAnalyst 1.9

* New "Load metadata" option in Services API dialog. Enabling this
option will load metadata (table structure)
* Added column Statistics (Index view). Information is taken from
Services API (if Load Metadata is On). Column

shows rdb$indices.rdb$statistics data. If this information is outdated,
it will be marked yellow for less than 20%

difference with calculated index selectivity, or red if difference
greater than 20%. For that indices right mouse

click on Statistics column enables to recompute selectivity.
* Added total index size into row "Data version percent" at Summary view
* Added column "Size, mb" to Index view.
* TIP size report in recommendations fixed from bytes to kilobytes
* Option "take only header page" in Services API dialog is saved/restored
* Added recommendation about outdated index statistics.
* ODS 9.x information about numeric fields is now taken correctly
* "Wrong ODS" error now processed and reported correctly
* Fixed report in recommendations about gap between Oldest Snapshot and
Oldest Active
* Several interface improvements
* and more!

Download trial version of IBAnalyst 1.9 now from www.ibanalyst.com!

--
Sincerely yours,
Alexey Kovyazin
www.ibsurgeon.com

..::firebird::..

Requesting news about your products (fbdeveloper.com)

Dear Colleagues!

As you know we've published the first issue of "The InterBase and
Firebird Developer Magazine" at September 1.
The second issue will be published at October 15.

We will be glad to publish fresh news about your products - please send
your press releases to press@...
Exclusive news, news about forthcoming products/releases and news
regarding open source initiatives have the highest priority for publication.

Sincerely yours,
Alexey Kovyazin
www.ibdeveloper.com
The Interbase and Firebird Developer Magazine

..::firebird::..

request for fbconference ad on debiancentral.org

It should apear in banner top area (they host ads for open source projects)
http://debcentral.org/modules/news/article.php?storyid=38

..::firebird::..

Spreading the word about the firebird conference

If you want to help spreading the word about the conference, attached
to this message is a banner that you can use.




Cantu (Membro do TeamFB - FireBase)
http://www.warmboot.com.br
FireBase - http://www.FireBase.com.br

..::firebird::..

Version 1.11 of FBCopy tool is released

Version 1.11 of FBCopy tool is released. Grab it while it's hot. :)

With FBCopy, you can easily copy data between Firebird tables and
databases. FBCopy is a command-line tool, so you can use it
inside batch scripts, cron jobs, etc. You can also use the HTML output
option to get a clear overview of database differences.

There are a lot of nice GUI tools that do it, but they all require
thay you have fast access to database. If you have databases on remote
server, which are too big to copy them to your computer, pump the
data, and copy back, FBCopy is the choice.

Also, if you need to pump data on Linux or FreeBSD, this is (AFAIK) the
only native program that does it.


New features:

- Automatic detection of database's charset
- Option to keep going even if some data could not be copied
- Option to disable triggers during copying


Bugfixes and enhancements:

- Computed fields aren't copied anymore
- Detect when tables depend on each other via CHECK constraints
- Fixed dependency sorting (code contributed by Thiago Borges)
- Dependencies via check constraints are taken in consideration


More info and downloads:
http://fbexport.sourceforge.net/fbcopy.html


The tool is open sourced, download and use is free.

--
Milan Babuskov
http://fbexport.sourceforge.net
http://www.flamerobin.org

..::firebird::..

Fyracle OCI Connector

In the Fyracle newsgroup several requests have been
made for support for applications that use Oracle's
native API, called "OCI".

Users can help with adding support for the OCI API.
Please see: http://www.fyracle.org/oci

The files in this directory contain a stub for
the most common functions in Oracle's oci.dll
By taking these stubes and adding code to translate
the calls to the OCI functions to the equivalent
Firebird API functions an "OCI Connector" for
Fyracle can be created.

All and any community support with this task is
much appreciated.

Questions? Please ask them in the Fyracle forum.

..::firebird::..

Fyracle Delphi Connector

In the Fyracle newsgroup several requests have been
made for support for Delphi/Kylix/FreePascal.

The Fyracle connector has been designed with just
enough of the Firebird API implemented to support the
ODBC and JDBC drivers. Users can help by adding support
for the full API.

Have a look at: http://www.fyracle.org/delphi

The files in this directory generate an 'empty' connector
library, named "delphi_conn.dll". This DLL exposes (part
of) the Firebird API -- i.e. the isc_* functions -- and
dynamically loads the "fbclient.dll" library to handle
the calls to those functions.

In order to help with adding Delphi support to Fyracle,
please help with adding the missing API functions to this
connector library. We will add these to the Fyracle
library in turn. If your Delphi application works with
the 'empty' connector, it will work with Fyracle as well.

Questions? Please ask them in the Fyracle forum.
..::firebird::..

The list and details of all the speaker papers for the Firebird Conference

The Firebird conference will take place at the Hotel Olsanka in Prague, Czech Republic from the evening of Sunday the 13th of November (opening session) until the evening of Tuesday the 15th of November (closing session).

The list and details of all the speaker papers is now available. There is a great selection of speakers and topics. A conference schedule should follow shortly.

Note: If you want early bird registration, you will need to register before the end of September.

..::firebird::..

Firebird Surgeon Released

Alexey Kovyazin announced Version 1.1 of IBBackupSurgeon, a tool that can read and save data from corrupted Firebird or InterBase backup files. The Basic version can save data from most corrupted backups. Pro version can use the structure of intact backup in order to read heavily corrupted backups.

..::firebird::..

Firebird Global Usage Survey

Carlos Cantu announced the opening of the Firebird Global Usage Survey to determine how and where Firebird is being used all around the world. The survey ends in 10 days.

..::firebird::..

Multi-core licensing and virtualization promote open source databases

Multi-core licensing and virtualization promote open source databases .
" More flexible licensing is one of the biggest draws open source software has for enterprise users, and the current shift toward dual-core and multi-core processors and use of virtualization technologies may give Linux and open source software even more of an advantage, say analysts and open source project leaders."

http://business.newsforge.com/business/05/09/12/1515200.shtml?tid=37

..::firebird::..

Human Profile announces DWebPro Version 6.0 with Firebird support

With DWebPro 6.0 you can distribute on CD/DVD your PHP, Perl, ASP 3.0, ASP.Net, JSP/Servlet, ColdFusion, Python, Ruby, Rebol, Delphi Web Script II, EXEs, CGIs and ISAPIs dynamic websites without any change.

Human Profile announces DWebPro version 6.0, a stand alone web server created to run directly from CD/DVD. This software is available for any Windows 32-bit platform including 95/98/98SE/NT4/ME/2000/2003 and XP.

DWebPro is designed to support the standard CGI and ISAPI interfaces so it can work with PHP, Perl and a lot of other server side scripting engines. It supports also MySQL, PostgreSQL and Firebird (also embedded) database servers in addition to SQLite and Ms Access database file. Both server side scripting languages and databases support are provided by our unique "ready to run" preconfigured packages.

Source for news http://www.irishdev.com

..::firebird::..

Firebird Embedded use on Linux

To use Firebird on Linux without needing to add users or set permissions, you can use the Classic server and get it down to just a few files. I used FirebirdCS-1.5.2 on SuSE 9.2 but it should work for any Linux distribution and any recent Firebird release. What you need is:

1. A directory to setup a mini Firebird environment. I used ~/firebird and you need these files in the directory:

libfbembed.so
firebird.conf
security.fdb
intl/fbintl
bin/fb_lock_mgr

2. You need to link with or dynamically load the libfbembed.so library. It will allow direct connection to the database without needing a server process.

3. The firebird.conf file just needs one line with "RootDirectory=?" where ? is the full path of the mini Firebird environment directory.

4. The security.fdb file will be used to validate the username and password when you connect so you can either setup users in it or just set the sysdba password to a known value and login using sysdba. This security file is really a dummy file and will not provide any real security but its an embedded database so you are not looking for the same type of security a networked server would need.

5. The files all need to be owned by the user who will be opening the database so in my case they were all owned by me. Special care needs to be taken with the fb_lock_mgr since the one in /opt/firebird/bin is setup owned by firebird.firebird and with the setuid bit turned on but you will not need any of this for this configuration. In general if you're application is running as user "foo" then that user needs to have read/write access to the database you are trying to open, to the security.fdb file, and to the directory you installed the Firebird mini environment.

In your code you need to set the environment variable FIREBIRD to the location of the mini Firebird environment and then you should be able to use isc_attach_database and just pass a full pathname to the database file you want to use.
Source for article : bpepers on fbtalk.net

..::firebird::..

Phoenix PHPServer - PHP5 and firebird in same package (Easy LAMP)

Paul Ruizendahl releases an easy-install "LAMP"-style stack for webserver development. Currently named "Phoenix PHPServer", it wraps a webserver, PHP 5 and Firebird. Version 0.9 is available for download.

..:: Firebird ::..::PHP::..

Firebird (and IBExpert) on German Magazine CD

we just wanted to let everybody know that the german magazine ct
(www.heise.de/ct, i would say the most important serious computer
magazine in german language, about 500000 times printed each issue)
will have a major topic regarding free Database Systems in
their next issue 20/2005 (coming on 19th Sept 2005).

The major players there are mysql, postgresql and firebird.

We were asked for a special IBExpert Version for the magazine cd
and we created a special Version for it. On the CD will also be
the firebird server.

There will be a kind of a programming Championship in the magazine
regarding a portable webshop system, that should work on all three
database systems. Since there is a large community of mysql users
and also postgresql users, we should also have a look what we can
do to support the firebird database solution in this championship.

I will inform everybody here when we have seen the final
printed version of the article in the magazine and the
stuff on the cd.

Best Regards

Holger Klemt

The Worldwide Firebird Conference, November 13th - 15th,
Prague, Czech Republic

The most Expert for InterBase and Firebird --- www.ibexpert.com
HK Software - Gerhard Stalling Str 47A - 26135 Oldenburg - Germany
Phone/Fax +49 700 IBEXPERT (42397378) www.h-k.de
Training and Support for Delphi, InterBase, Firebird, AS/400
..::firebird::..

Mono 1.1.9 Releasead - firebird provider mentioned

Firebird provider

>From Carlos: Support for the new INSERT ... RETURNING statement of Firebird v2.0

Added support to the new CREATE SEQUENCE and SET GENERATOR statements to the FbBatchExecution class.

Add parameter information for DML statements and allow the configuration of quoted identifiers usage to the DataAdapter Configuration Wizard.

Mono full release notes http://www.go-mono.com/archive/1.1.9/

..::firebird::....::mono::....::.net::..

Firebird in ArkLinux

For ArkLinux.org users or those seeking one of the best user-friendly Linux distros. They are adding FirebirdSQL to their repository...
http://www.arklinux.org/forum/viewtopic.php?showtopic=1327
http://www.arklinux.org/

Ark Linux 2005.2 RC1 has received a SoftPedia pick award.
According to SoftPedia's awards page, these awards are given to "products that we think are excellent and above average in their category. Awards are given based on our experience and judgement, and only to products which the majority of our reviewers agree deserve it."

ps: source fyracle.org

..::firebird::..

FBLib Firebird Library 0.81 released

Source : fyracle.org

FBLib Firebird Library 0.81 is released , Open Source Library No Data Aware for direct access to Firebird Relational Database from Borland Delphi / Kylix , Freepascal and Lazarus Read more

..::firebird::..

KInterbasDB 3.1.2 released

What is KInterbasDB?
--------------------
KInterbasDB is a Python extension package that implements Python
Database API 2.0-compliant support for the open source relational
database Firebird and some versions of its proprietary cousin Borland
Interbase. In addition to the minimal feature set of the standard
Python DB API, KInterbasDB also exposes nearly the entire native
client API of the database engine.

KInterbasDB is free--covered by a permissive BSD-style license that
both commercial and noncommercial users should find agreeable.


What's new in release 3.1.2?
----------------------------
KInterbasDB 3.1.2, a maintenance release of the stable 3.1 branch,
fixes a handful of bugs, most fairly obscure. A changelog is
available here:
http://kinterbasdb.sourceforge.net/dist_docs/changelog.txt


Where can I learn more about and download KinterbasDB?
------------------------------------------------------
http://kinterbasdb.sourceforge.net

..::firebird::..::python::..

The Firebird ADO.NET Data Provider 1.7.1 Release Candidate 1 for Microsoft.NET 1.1 and Mono 1.1.x

Carlos Guzmán Álvarez announced that The Firebird ADO.NET Data Provider 1.7.1 Release Candidate 1 for Microsoft.NET 1.1 and Mono 1.1.x is available for download.

..::firebird::..::mono::.#.::.net::..

dbdesc 1.0 added firebird support

dbdesc is a powerful command-line tool to help you document your databases. It can produce detailed documents describing your databases.

Here is described how it was created

..::firebird::..

The Firebird Conference 2005 details

..::firebird::..

Open Source Database Conference 2005

Spoted on blogosphere
The Open Source Database Conference 2005 deserves some coverage as it is the only forum in recent years that focuses on all of the major Free Software and Open Source DBMS, and includes business sessions that focus on how Free/Open databases fit into the business world, along with solid technical sessions (usually from core developers of the DBMS in question) on:
* Apache Derby
* Berkeley DB
* Firebird
* HSQLDB
* Ingres
* MaxDB
* MySQL
* PostgreSQL
* SQLite

Additionally, conference organizer Software and Support Verlag has graciously made exhibition space available for the Free/Open DBMS projects that are not supported by a company. (Contact me for details)

So, if you can, please attend - you won't find a better event for Free/Open databases anywhere else this year. See http://www.opendbcon.net/ for more details on sessions, speakers, travel and rates.

..::firebird::....::mysql::....::postgresql::..

Daffodil Replicator v2.0 released with support for Firebird data replication

Daffodil Software today released Replicator v2.0 ( beta ) with support for Firebird to Firebird data replication, in addition to significant performance enhancements. With v2.0, all replication operations can be performed faster, when compared to earlier Replicator versions.

The new features introduced in Replicator v2.0 are:
Support for Firebird: Replicator v2.0 can be used with Firebird database. It supports bi-directional data synchronization between Firebird ( Server ) database to multiple Firebird ( Client ) databases. The version does not provide the functionality of Firebird data replication to heterogeneous database servers. This functionality will be introduced in future Replicator versions.

Partial Tables Replication: Partial Table Replication allows a user to ignore specific columns in a publisher database table. It provides the flexibility to disregard data ( residing in publisher database columns ) that is not required on the client side, hence making the replication operation more efficient.

Cyclic Tables Replication: Replicator v2.0 can be used with complex database structures where tables have cyclical dependencies. The previous replication versions could not replicate the tables that hold references to each other.

In regards to performance, with Replicator v2.0, the XML file creation process has been reviewed and optimized. The new process drastically reduces the time taken in capturing the insertion, deletion and updation of records from Replicator Shadow tables and transmitting the same to the target database server. Major bug fixing related to tags issues in XML file, appending the foreign key constraint and creation of transaction log file during Real time Replication has also been done.

For more information on Daffodil Replicator v2.0, drop us a line at info@daffodildb.com. Users can download the new version and revised documents from: http://www.daffodildb.com/replicator/index.html

About Daffodil Software
Daffodil Software develops and markets a lineage of high-performance, affordable database servers and tools. Their mission is 'to offer cost-effective, high-quality, customizable data management tools and solutions that evolve with corresponding technology trends'. The company also deals in open source CRM, open source database and offshore software development.
..::firebird::..

Firebird Conference - Call For Speaker Papers deadline

Just to remind everybody, the Firebird Conference - Call For Speaker Papers
deadline is meant to be tommorrow....

Current Proposals can be found at:
http://www.ibphoenix.com/main.nfs?a=ibphoenix&page=fb_conf_proposals

If you would like to submit a proposal, and speak at the conference,
can you submit your proposals to me very soon.

Call for Papers:

http://www.ibphoenix.com/main.nfs?a=ibphoenix&page=fb_conf_call_papers


Regards
Paul Beach


"I'm looking for opinions. The talks I'm considering for me and Jim include:

Firebird ODS and V2 ODS changes
Detecting, correcting, and preventing database corruption
Concurrency control and garbage collection
Vulcan status, features, & goals
Configuring Firebird and Vulcan for your application
First steps in performance tuning

Any suggestions, additions, deletions ... we won't do all the ones
listed but before I commit to specific topics I thought I'd ask."


Regards,
Ann W. Harrison [aharrison at ibphoenix.com]





..::firebird::..

ibWebAdmin 1.0 released after 3 years

This [news/] email is to inform you about the release of version '1.0' of
'ibWebAdmin' through freshmeat.net. All URLs and other useful information
can be found at

  http://freshmeat.net/projects/ibwebadmin/

The changes in this release are as follows:
This maintenance release fixes all bugs reported over the last months,
including enhanced error handling and fixes for the references
warnings with PHP 4.4 and 5.1. A Hungarian translation was added.

Release focus:
7 - Major bugfixes

Project added:
Thu, May 23rd 2002 15:02 (3 years, 3 months ago)

Project description:
ibWebAdmin is a web based admin tool for the InterBase and Firebird
database servers. Beside creating, modifying, and deleting of
databases, tables, domains, generators, triggers, indices, and users,
it supports import and export of data in CSV file format. It features
browsing through tables and entering/editing of data, including
BLOBs. 

..::firebird::..

Firebird 2 Alpha 3 Linux Builds are now available for download and testing.

I saw this on fbtalk

Linux

* 4th Aug 2005 Classic for Linux 2.0 Alpha (.rpm) (3.9mb)
* 4th Aug 2005 Classic for Linux 2.0 Alpha (.tar.gz) (3.9mb)
* 4th Aug 2005 Classic Debug Build for Linux 2.0 Alpha (.tar.gz) (20.6mb)

Linux NPTL

* 4th Aug 2005 SuperServer for Linux NPTL 2.0 Alpha (.rpm) (4.0mb)
* 4th Aug 2005 SuperServer for Linux NPTL 2.0 Alpha (.tar.gz) (3.9mb)
* 4th Aug 2005 SuperServer Debug Build for Linux NPTL 2.0 Alpha (.tar.gz) (20mb)

..::firebird::..

Configuring Firebird for Your Application - OSCON session

Ann Harrison, IBPhoenix

Track: Databases
Date: Thursday, August 4th, 2005
Time: 11:35am - 12:20pm
Location: D136

Not all database applications consist of a single database running on a dedicated machine, accessed by remote clients. Some require the throughput of an application linked directly to the database handling code. Others are self-contained and should not affect any system-wide settings. The Firebird database engine has three configurations: a shared server, an embedded server, and a library of access routines. The API is the same, so you can offer different models for ‘personal’ and ‘corporate’ versions of your application.

The traditional model for databases is a single server running on a dedicated system. In Firebird, this model is SuperServer. The server process listens for connection requests, maps transactions to threads, and maintains shared caches of metadata and database pages. In Firebird 2, you can configure a system to support several instances of the SuperServer to manage individual databases, or groups of databases, separately.

The SuperServer code that handles database operations can be built as a library and linked directly to applications. This model is “Classic” Firebird. A shared memory lock table coordinates the activity of separate applications.

Data management is also important for personal applications – applications designed to run on PC’s – not dedicated database servers. For these applications, Firebird has embedded mode. The server and all its configuration information is bound to an application that has exclusive access to the databases it uses.

Firebird’s API is consistent across all models – this talk explains how to choose the model – or models – that fit your application.

Download presentation file

..::firebird::..

Report from OSCON by Ann W. Harrison

I'm returning from two days a O'Reilly's Open Source Conference in
Portland Oregon  - lovely city.  I met Rob Schuff (sp?) again - after
five years I think - and David Jenks.  Interest in Firebird was moderate
(at best) but even the other database sessions were lightly attended and
mostly full of current users.  The high points of the conference for me
were the new features talks by Postgres and MySQL.  The flagship
features for the new Postgres due out this year are Stored Procedures
(less capable than ours) and Views.  Postgres has added an intermediate
bitmap in index retrievals (like ours) and two-phase commit.

Almost made up for the half an hour I spent talking to a potential user
who had been told that he could use Firebird for his application because
he didn't need much of "that relational stuff."

Cheers,

..::firebird::..

Grid-powered network thin clients run embedded Linux and ... Firebird database

"ThinLinx has launched a line of Linux-based thin-clients that access
Ubuntu Linux desktops and commercial Linux applications hosted on
ThinLinx's grid network. The Hot-E initially offers Firebird database,
Compiere and OpenCRX ERP/CRM"

http://www.linuxdevices.com/news/NS4609128375.html

..::firebird::..

99 Bottles of Beer in Firebird relational database SQL

/*
 * beer_song.sql - 99 Bottles of Beer in Firebird relational database SQL
 * Firebird is at firebird.sourceforge.net
 * Author: Jim Dunleavy 
 * 2003-11-27
 */

..::firebird::..

Newest Concern on Sun's Open Source Strategy - Firebird/Interbase mentioned

Firebird/Interbase license is mentioned on theserverside.com

"Several years ago, Borland released the Interbase Database source
code as an Open Source project. They then, quickly, turned around and
brought it back in house. Obviously, it was immediately forked and
today we have Firebird, which as far as I can tell is on a divergent
course from Interbase.

Interbase wasn't free long enough for any community work to have been
done on it before it was taken back, and I'm not familiar with their
license. But it is an example of a company "changing its mind"
regarding an open source project."

http://www.theserverside.com/news/thread.tss?thread_id=35242

..::firebird::..

Firebird switch - dot net provieder story

And MySQL is not being entirely upfront either. What is also interesting is that the new database connectors are being released under GPL only. For example if you were doing .NET development you have to release all of your software under GPL. This switch by MySQL stems from the fact that a court in the US deemed connecting to a database using a standard API is not an infraction of the GPL. As MySQL is trying to squeeze developers and admins to buy commercial licenses I switched to Firebird.

Found it on this blog

..::firebird::..

libgda/libgnomedb 1.3.4 released

libgda/libgnomedb are a complete framewok for developing
database-oriented applications, and currently allow access to PostgreSQL,
MySQL, Oracle, Sybase, SQLite, FireBird/Interbase, IBM DB2, mSQL and MS
SQL server, as well as MS Access and xBase files and ODBC data sources.

libgda/libgnomedb are the base of the database support in the GNOME
Office application suite, providing database access for many features in
both Gnumeric and Abiword.

1.3.4 is another step in the road to 2.0, which will be out with GNOME 2.12

You can find more information at the projects' homepage: http://www.gnome-db.org

..::firebird::..

Firebird Internals: OAT, OIT, and Sweep in Episode 4 (A New Hope)

A long time ago in a galaxy far, far away...

Firebird for the Database Expert: Episode 4 - OAT, OIT, and Sweep by Ann Harrison.

..::firebird::..

New Norwegian Search Vendor using Firebird

It seems like we now have an other Scandinavian contender in the Search Engine space.
They base their technology around SQL and native integration (porting) into each supported database. For the moment they support Microsoft SQL, Oracle, Interbase and Firebird , DB2 later this year or on customer request.

Source of news is unstruct.org

..::firebird::..

Bugtracking With Track+Firebird

Arno from australia wrote this

I have been looking for some decent, easy-to-use bugtracking software lately for one of our projects. My first recommondations were Bugzilla and Mantis, simply because I knew them from the past and they were freely available. But their installation procedures (e.g. Perl, MySQL as prerequisites for Bugzilla) overstrained the sysadmin responsible for setting up and maintaining the server (external staff - to his defense, he had no experience in these areas). Plus I never liked Bugzilla's nor Mantis' user interface.

So I continued searching, and finally found Track+. Originally a Sourceforge project, the licensing model was very attractive (free license for up to ten users), the featureset looked good, it supported all kinds of operating systems and databases, and it came with a complete Windows installer. I did a test installation and had it up and running in ten minutes.

The only prerequisite is an existing JDK1.4.2. The setup package also provides Tomcat 5 as web/application container and the free Firebird database. I only had to add tools.jar to Tomcat's classpath (seems as if the installer forgot about that - otherwise Tomcat's JSP engine Jasper would not be able to compile JSP pages)

..::firebird::..

Firebird Internals Episode 3 - On Disk Consistency (Revenge of the crash)

Ann Harrison published her 3rd expert whitepaper, this time on disk consistency.

Read more

..::firebird::..

Firebird Client 2.0 Alpha 1 for .NET 2.0 Beta 2 - released

Carlos announced the availability of Firebird Client 2.0 Alpha 1 for .NET 2.0 Beta 2, with the following notes: "For now only source and installation packages (for .NET 2.0 Beta 2) are available. Remember that it's an alpha version and it should be used only for testing. Release notes are here.
..::firebird::....::dotnet::....::mono::..

Europe Parliament Nixes Software Patent Law

The European Parliament overwhelmingly rejected a proposed law Wednesday
to create a single way of patenting software across the European Union,
calling instead for comprehensive rules for granting patents to inventions
in all fields.

..::firebird::..

Open Source is the Future. Open Source is Now.

Open source databases white paper (firebird,ibphoenix,fyracle mentioned):
pdf download

More papers on the same site http://virtuas.com/opensource.html

..::firebird::..::databases::..::postgresql::..::mysql::..

firebird on SCO Openserver 5.0.7 ! doh

> I have attempted to build firebird (1.0 and 1.5) on SCO Openserver 5.0.7

I don't think is worth the time to port on it , you can get a
free/open/gnu linux
very easy ;) and firebird is compiling well on recent distro's (minus
ones with gcc 4)

..::firebird::..::linux::..::unix::..

STOP Software Patents in Europe - last day call

How you can help

• Join the web demo
  
• Join the economic-majority.com
  
• Join the demonstration in Strasbourg
  

If you cannot attend the demonstation in Strasbourg in person please phone or fax your member of the European Parliament (MEP). Or better yet discuss the situation with others you work with and send a company FAX to show them how this new legislation will hurt your business if the Buzek-Rocard-Duff amendments are not adopted by parlement on Wednesday. If you don't inform your parliament, mega-corporations are doing the job for you: "The European Parliament is filled with lobbyists of Microsoft, Eicta, CompTIA and so on. There are 30 to 40 lobbyists permanently roaming the halls."

Join us now...

..::firebird::..
..::postgresql::..
..::databases::..
..::debian::..

Firebird SQL Service monitor and Server Config - screenshots

DISCLAIMER:

Software downloadable here is distributed on an "AS IS" basis, WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND, either express or implied. If you live or are intended to use this software in countries where this is not applicable ("AS IS" basis), DO NOT USE IT

FBMonitor

Firebird SQL Service monitor

Application Tray can Monitoring, Start, Stop, Restart Firebird SQL 1.5 Services over network.
Like as apache monitor

Download it from, EXE file included

http://www.parmaja.com/downloads/fbMonitor-1.0.0.zip

Forum Page

Screenshots



fbConfig 1.0.0

Firebird SQL 1.5 Config tools
It is a simple tools for edit "firebid.conf" and "aliases.conf" as easy without define the path of server (taked from registry),
- Easy Hash Unhash line (comment it),
- Recognize hashed value for Unhasing it,
- Description for every values.

Download it from, EXE file included

http://www.parmaja.com/downloads/fbConfig-1.0.0.zip

Forum Page

Screenshots




..::firebird::..

what is new in Firebird Alpha3

raw changelog is updated on sf.net

Added some Alpha 3 changes

  **************
 * v2.0 Alpha 3
 **************

   * DDL improvement
       Allow to create foreign key constraints without need to get exclusive lock
       on whole database
     Contributor(s):
       Vlad Horsun 

   * Fixed unregistered bug
       Fix 'partner index not found' error when one classic process
       dropped FK and another process trying to delete master record
     Contributor(s):
       Vlad Horsun 

   * ISQL improvement
       Make SQLDA_DISPLAY display input SQLDA parameters of INSERTs, UPDATEs and DELETEs
     Contributor(s):
       Adriano dos Santos Fernandes 

   * Fixed unregistered bug
       Server crashed when PLAN for VIEW is specified but no table alias was given
     Contributor(s):
       Vlad Horsun 

   * Fixed Alpha 2 bug (SF #1184591)
       Invalid ROW_COUNT variable value after DELETE
     Contributor(s):
       Dmitry Yemanov 

   * Fixed unregistered bugs
       1) redundant attempts to get an exclusive database lock during shutdown
       2) inaccurate timeout counting
       3) database lock is not released after bringing database online in the exclusive mode
       4) removed a 5 sec timeout when bringing database online in the shared mode
     Contributor(s):
       Dmitry Yemanov 

   * Fixed bug SF #1016040
       Missing external libraries causes engine exception
     Contributor(s):
       Adriano dos Santos Fernandes 

   * DML enhancement
       Implemented RETURNING clause for the INSERT statement
     See also:
       /doc/sql.extentions/README.returning
     Contributor(s):
       Dmitry Yemanov 

   * Fixed bug SF #1186607
       Foreign key relation VARCHAR <-> INT
     Contributor(s):
       Vlad Horsun 

   * Fixed bug SF #1211325
       BLOBs in external tables
     Contributor(s):
       Vlad Horsun 

   * New charsets/collations
       1) KOI8-R (Russian language) and KOI8-U (Ukrainian language) charsets and dictionary collations
       2) WIN1257_LV (Latvian), WIN1257_LT (Lithuanian), WIN1257_EE (Estonian) collations
     Contributor(s):
      Oleg Loa 
       Aleksey Karyakin 

   * Parser improvement
       Try report the line/column of an incomplete statement.
     Contributor(s):
       Claudio Valderrama 

   * Fixed unregistered bugs
       1) Charset/collation issues for expression-based view columns
       2) Lost charset/collation for local PSQL variables
     Contributor(s):
       Dmitry Yemanov 

   * Fixed Alpha 2 bug (SF #1171256)
       Local Protocol (XNET) isn't using aliases
     Contributor(s):
       Dmitry Yemanov 

   * Fixed unregistered bug
       Database alises didn't work in WNET
     Contributor(s):
       Dmitry Yemanov 

   * Fixed bug SF #1211354
       Redundant evaluations in COALESCE
     Contributor(s):
       Arno Brinkman 

   * Fixed unregistered bug
       Client crashed while disconnecting with active event listener
     Contributor(s):
       Dmitry Yemanov 

   * Fixed SF bug #1208932
       SHOW GRANT does not distinguish object types
     Contributor(s):
       Claudio Valderrama 

   * Optimizer improvement
       Use more realistic cost value for unique retrieval
     Contributor(s):
       Arno Brinkman 

   * Fixed SF bug #494981
       Bad exception report
     Contributor(s):
       Claudio Valderrama 

   * DDL enhancement
       Implemented ALTER EXTERNAL FUNCTION to change the entry_point or the module_name when the UDF cannot be dropped due to existing dependecies
     Contributor(s):
       Claudio Valderrama 

   * Fixed Alpha 2 bugs
       1) bug with selectivity of non-equality comparisons
       2) changed the invertions selection code to help in both MERGE and JOIN paths
       3) implemented metadata extract for expression indices
       4) the threading issues in fbembed
     Contributor(s):
       Dmitry Yemanov 

   * DDL enhancement
       Implemented the COMMENT statement to set the metadata descriptions
     See also:
       /doc/sql.extentions/README.ddl.txt
     Contributor(s):
       Claudio Valderrama 

   * Fixed bug SF #908319
       1.5 wrong err msg using gbak with service_mgr
     Contributor(s):
       Vlad Horsun 

   * Fixed unregistered bug
       A few internal buffer overflows are fixed
     Contributor(s):
       Alex Peshkov 

   * Fixed unregistered bug
       After an attempt to "create view v(c1) as select 1 from v" all clones of system request remained active forever
     Contributor(s):
       Alex Peshkov 

   * Fixed Alpha 2 bug
       Server crashed in incorrect written EXECUTE BLOCK statement
     Example(s):
       EXECUTE BLOCK AS BEGIN
         INSERT INTO DUMMY (ID) VALUES(?);
       END
     Contributor(s):
       Vlad Horsun 

   * Fixed unregistered bug
       ISQL_disconnect_database overwriting the Quiet flag permanently
     Contributor(s):
       Miroslav Penchev 
       Claudio Valderrama 

   * Fixed unregistered bug
       Server crashed during the table metadata scan in some cases
     Contributor(s):
       Dmitry Yemanov 

   * Fixed unregistered bug
       Error "index key too big" when creating a descending index
     Contributor(s):
       Vlad Horsun 

   * Fixed SF bug #1191006
       Using where params in SUM return incorrect results
     Contributor(s):
       Arno Brinkman 

   * Fixed Alpha 2 bug
       Problem with distributing sort to deeper RSE
     Example(s):
     SELECT RDB$RELATION_NAME FROM (SELECT FIRST 10 * FROM RDB$RELATIONS ORDER BY RDB$RELATION_NAME DESC) ORDER BY RDB$RELATION_NAME
     Contributor(s):
       Arno Brinkman 

   * Fixed SF bug #1122344
       gbak -kill option drops existing shadow
     Contributor(s):
       Dmitry Yemanov 

   * Fixed SF bug #750662
       Multiple declaration of blob filters
     Contributor(s):
       Dmitry Yemanov 

   * Parser improvement
       UNIONs are allowed in ANY/ALL/IN subqueries
     Contributor(s):
       Dmitry Yemanov 

   * Fixed SF bug #743679
       FIRST / SKIP not well implemented
     Contributor(s):
       Dmitry Yemanov 

   * Optimizer improvement
       NOT conditions are simplified and optimized via index when possible
     Example(s):
       (NOT NOT A = 0) -> (A = 0)
       (NOT A > 0) -> (A <= 0)
     Contributor(s):
       Dmitry Yemanov 

   * Fixed SF bug #450404
       ISQL uppercases role in the command line
     Contributor(s):
       Claudio Valderrama 

   * Fixed unregistered bug
       100% CPU load when an I/O error causes a rollover to non-existing shadow
     Contributor(s):
       Dmitry Yemanov 

   * Fixed Alpha 2 bug (SF #1173988)
       Minor glitches in GBAK output
     Contributor(s):
       Claudio Valderrama 

   * Fixed unregistered bug
       Fix for the -b (Bail On Error) option when SQL commands are issued and no db connection exists yet.
       Apply Miroslav Penchev's patch for bug with -Q always returning 1 to the operating system, discovered by Ivan Prenosil.
     Contributor(s):
       Claudio Valderrama 

   * New INTL interface
       A new interface allowing the following enhancements and features
     Contributor(s):
       Nickolay Samofatov 

   * INTL enhancements
       1) Well-formedness checks of string constants and parameters
       2) Uppercase and lowercase all possible (and not only ASCII) characters in default collation orders
       3) Check length of characters (and not bytes) for new MBCS (including UTF8)
       4) Inform original character set in sqlsubtype of XSQLVAR when connecting with NONE
     Contributor(s):
       Adriano dos Santos Fernandes 

   * BLOB enhancements
       1) Allow usage of collations
       2) Perform comparison using entire content
       3) Convert between character sets when assigning from string or BLOB
     Contributor(s):
       Adriano dos Santos Fernandes 

   * Unicode 4.0 support
       UTF8 character set with collations UCS_BASIC and UNICODE
     Contributor(s):
       Adriano dos Santos Fernandes 

   * Brazilian collations
       1) Collation PT_BR for ISO8859_1 and WIN1252 character sets
       2) Collation WIN_PTBR for WIN1252 character set
     Contributor(s):
       Adriano dos Santos Fernandes 
       Paulo Henrique Albanez 

   * New string functions
       LOWER, BIT_LENGTH, CHAR_LENGTH/CHARACTER_LENGTH, OCTET_LENGTH, TRIM.
     See also:
       /doc/sql.extentions/README.length
       /doc/sql.extentions/README.trim
     Contributor(s):
       Adriano dos Santos Fernandes 

   * INTL plugins
       Character sets and collations are installed using a manifest file. Server write to the log when conflicts exist.
     Contributor(s):
       Adriano dos Santos Fernandes 

   * Fixed SF #1073212
       Order by big columns (collate) terminates server
     Contributor(s):
       Adriano dos Santos Fernandes 

   * Fixed SF #939844
       Queries > 263 chars with UNICODE DB throws GDS Exception
     Contributor(s):
       Adriano dos Santos Fernandes 

   * Fixed SF #977785
       Wrong character lengths MBCS (UTF-8, East-Asian charsets)
     Contributor(s):
       Adriano dos Santos Fernandes 

   * Fixed SF #536243
       UNICODE_FSS charset and UPPER function
     Contributor(s):
       Adriano dos Santos Fernandes 

   * Fixed SF #942726
       UPPER does not convert aacute to Aacute for ISO8859_1
     Contributor(s):
       Adriano dos Santos Fernandes 

   * Fixed SF #544630
       Problems when connecting using UNICODE
     Contributor(s):
       Adriano dos Santos Fernandes 

   * Fixed SF #540547
       Concatenation, numeric fields & charset
     Contributor(s):
       Adriano dos Santos Fernandes 

   * Fixed unregistered bug
       Query produce different result depending on index presence when the last character of the string is the first character of a compression pair
     Contributor(s):
       Adriano dos Santos Fernandes 

   * Fixed unregistered bug
       SUBSTRING and multi-byte BLOB don't work correctly
     Contributor(s):
       Adriano dos Santos Fernandes 

   * Fixed unregistered bug
       Pattern matching with multi-byte BLOB is performed in binary mode
     Contributor(s):
       Adriano dos Santos Fernandes 

   * Fixed unregistered bug
       It's not safe to connect with MBCS if database has columns using different character set
     Contributor(s):
       Adriano dos Santos Fernandes 

..::firebird::..

bitweaver released

It's been a while coming, but the Firebird powered wiki site is running
and stable
http://home.lsces.co.uk/tikifirebird
Not much in the way of content yet, apart from the words list, which has
been split down into single letter pages, and just a few logos to start
the gallery. It is powered by bitweaver which is the new name for tikipro. 
There has been a major re-write of the code, much like Firebird, but now 
there is a clean modular shell onto which other packages can be grafted.
http://www.bitweaver.org/
 
It runs on Apache/PHP which means any OS you like, and your favourite
installation of Firebird. I'm running the demo sites split across two
machines, Firebird on one and Apache2/PHP5 on the second, and all
running 'as installed'.
The magic bit is that bitweaver will install 
using Firebird as the database 'out of the box'. Just tell the installer 
where your copy of isql is located (the default location is provided) and 
the bitweaver installer will do the rest. Add an alias before you start 
and you can use that in the install. Now we just need a few more users to 
iron out any remaining bugs and
start to build Firebird pages. 
--
Lester Caine
-----------------------------
L.S.Caine Electronic Services 

source for news : firebird-php

..::firebird::....::apache::....::php::..

New database discussion forum

Martijn Tonies and Arno Brinkman have created a new database-development forum website. It's a single website for discussing all kinds of different database engines.

::databases::firebird::mysql::postgresql::

Fyracle 0.8.8 released

Fyracle is the nick-name for Oracle-mode Firebird. By using Oracle-mode Firebird, you can bring the cost of porting major Oracle based enterprise application down to manageable levels. Fyracle does this by matching Oracle syntax idiosyncrasies and by providing the ability to compile and execute PL/SQL procedures unchanged.

Continued

..::firebird::..::databases::..::oracle::..