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'Firebird' (sometimes called FirebirdSQL) is a relational database management system offering many ANSI SQL-2003 features. It runs on Linux, Windows, and a variety of Unix platforms. Firebird was programmed and is maintained by the Firebird Project at SourceForge. It was forked from Borland's open source release of InterBase.
New code modules added to Firebird are licensed under the Initial Developer's Public License (IDPL). The original modules released by Inprise are licensed under the InterBase Public License 1.0. Both licences are modified versions of the Mozilla Public License 1.1.

Contents

History

Stable version changelog

Quick Start Guide for Firebird 2.0

Mozilla Firefox name clash

See also

External links

History

Development on the Firebird 2 codebase began with the porting of the Firebird 1.0.x C code to C++ and the first major code-cleaning. Firebird 1.5 is the first release of the Firebird 2 codebase. It is a significant milestone for the developers and the whole Firebird project, but it is not an end in itself. As Firebird 2.0 goes to release, major redevelopment continues toward the next point release on the journey to Firebird 2.x and Firebird 3.0 (code named Vulcan)
Other important information is found on Interbase History page
Firebird at 20 years, Recollection from Jim Starkey (how it all started):
:"September 4, 2004 is the 20th anniversary of what is now Firebird I quit my job at DEC in August, took a three day end-of-summer holiday, and began work on September 4, 1984 in my new career as a software entrepreneur. As best as I can reconstruct, the first two files were cpre.c and cpre.h (C preprocessor), later changed to gpre.c and gpre.h. The files were created on a loaner DEC Pro/350 a PDP-11 personal computer that went exactly nowhere, running XENIX. Gpre was my first C program, XENIX was my first experience with Unix, and the Pro/350 was my very last (but not lamented) experience with PDP-11s."

Stable version changelog

The current stable version is 'Firebird 2.0.2'. This release represents a commitment by the project to develop and deliver ongoing improvements to this popular open source database engine.
'Changes from previous version':
This release contains a large number of new features, including derived tables, support for Execute Block, increased table sizes, new improved index code (the 252-byte index length limit is no longer applicable), expression indices, numerous optimiser improvements, enhanced security features, support for on-line incremental backups along with numerous other improvements and bug fixes.
Full Release Notes are available in form of pdf document (right-click and choose Save As)
The current release represents a major upgrade to the engine, which has been developed by an independent team of voluntary developers from the InterBase source code that was released by Borland under the InterBase Public License v.1.0 on 25 July 2000.

Quick Start Guide for Firebird 2.0

The Firebird Documentation Subproject has published the Firebird 2.0 version of the Quick Start Guide. It is available on-line as a multi-page HTML document as well as in PDF format.
'Also, check the "Get to know Firebird in two minutes" document, available in more than 10 languages.'

Mozilla Firefox name clash

In April 2003, Mozilla Foundation decided to rename their web browser from ''Phoenix'' to ''Firebird''. This decision caused concern within the Firebird database project due to the assumption that users would be confused by a database and web browser using the Firebird name. The dispute continued until the Mozilla developers issued a statement making clear that their software package was called "Mozilla Firebird", not "Firebird". The statement also said that the Mozilla Firebird name was a project codename. On February 9, 2004, Mozilla renamed its browser Mozilla Firefox, thus clearing up confusion.

See also

★ List of relational database management systems

★ Comparison of relational database management systems

★ Fyracle

External links

★ Firebird - Project website

★ IBPhoenix - Firebird Portal

★ FirebirdNews - Major source of Firebird related news

★ FlameRobin - cross-platform Administration tool for Firebird, Open Source under MIT license

★ Yaffil - ex-fork of Firebird 1.x, when its development was stalled. Now merged back to main stream.