Firebird News

Wednesday, November 21, 2007

Firebird/InterBase - UDF and NULL parameters - DO not USE NULLs

Do not use NULLs

It is quite a frequent mistake to use NULLs for purposes it was not intended to. For example you have column MIDDLE_NAME in your table; if the person does not have middle name, you should fill in empty string (''); but sometimes people use NULL instead - it is wrong, because NULL means unknown value, not missing/not assigned/empty one. Using NULL as middle name means - "this person probably has a middle name, but we do not know what it is" - and not - "this person does not have any middle name".
Firebird/InterBase - UDF and NULL parameters

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Thursday, November 01, 2007

mnoGoSearch change history - new version released

Changes in 3.3.5 (17 October 2007)
mnoGoSearch change history

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Firebird Conference coverege [LWN.net]

Firebird Conference coveragePhotos and Blog entries from the 2007 Firebird DBMS conference have been posted. "The 2007 Firebird Conference convened from October 18-20 in Hamburg, Germany."
Linux in the news [LWN.net]

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Firebird Development release on [LWN.net]

Firebird 2.1 Beta 2 releasedVersion 2.1 Beta 2 of the Firebird DBMS has been announced. "This is the second Beta build of the Firebird version 2.1 series. It is for FIELD TESTING ONLY and should not be put into production systems."
Development [LWN.net]

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Tuesday, October 23, 2007

Installing DBI driver for Firebird RDBMS server

DBI driver for Firebird and RDBMS server
This was tested on debian stable with firebird 1.5.x version installed (from repository )
also with perl module DBI aready installed
wget http://search.cpan.org/CPAN/authors/id/E/ED/EDPRATOMO/DBD-InterBase-0.47.tar.gz
tar -zxvf DBD-InterBase-0.47.tar.gz
cd DBD-InterBase-0.47
perl Makefile.PL
make
make test (optional step)
make install

Here are the logs for perl Makefile.PL
perl Makefile.PL
InterBase/Firebird bin directory : [/opt/firebird/bin]
InterBase/Firebird include directory : [/opt/firebird/include]
InterBase/Firebird lib directory : [/opt/firebird/lib]

Full path to your test database:   /tmp/foo.fdb
/tmp/foo.fdb does not exist.
Trying to create the test database..
Please enter a username with CREATE DATABASE permission.
Username :  sysdba
Password :  masterkey
Enter full path to isql:  [/opt/firebird/bin/isql]
Use CONNECT or CREATE DATABASE to specify a database
Checking if your kit is complete...
Looks good
Using DBI 1.51 (for perl 5.008008 on i486-linux-gnu-thread-multi) installed in /usr/local/lib/perl/5.8.4/auto/DBI/
Writing Makefile for DBD::InterBase
For make test
make test
PERL_DL_NONLAZY=1 /usr/bin/perl "-MExtUtils::Command::MM" "-e" "test_harness(0, 'blib/lib', 'blib/arch')" t/*.t
t/00base..............ok
t/10dsnlist...........ok
t/20createdrop........ok
t/30insertfetch.......ok
t/40alltypes..........ok
t/40bindparam.........ok
t/40blobs.............ok
t/40cursor............ok
t/40cursoron..........ok
t/40datetime..........ok
t/40doparam...........ok
t/40listfields........ok
t/40nulls.............ok
t/40numrows...........ok
t/41numeric...........ok
t/50chopblanks........ok
t/50commit............ok
t/60leaks.............skipped
        all skipped: Long running memory leak test
t/61settx.............ok
t/62timeout...........ok
        12/14 skipped: wait timeout is not available
t/70nestedoff.........ok
t/70nestedon..........ok
t/80event-ithreads....ok
t/81event-fork........ok 1/17# kid gets sighup
t/81event-fork........ok
t/90dbinfo............ok
        10/13 skipped: active_tran_count is not available
t/91txinfo............ok
t/ak-dbd..............ok
t/dbdadmin............ok
All tests successful, 1 test and 22 subtests skipped.
Files=28, Tests=683, 21 wallclock secs ( 3.02 cusr +  0.32 csys =  3.34 CPU)

And for make install
 make install
Installing /usr/local/lib/perl/5.8.8/auto/DBD/InterBase/InterBase.so
Installing /usr/local/lib/perl/5.8.8/auto/DBD/InterBase/InterBase.bs
Files found in blib/arch: installing files in blib/lib into architecture dependent library tree
Installing /usr/local/lib/perl/5.8.8/DBD/InterBase.pm
Installing /usr/local/lib/perl/5.8.8/DBD/InterBase/TypeInfo.pm
Installing /usr/local/lib/perl/5.8.8/DBD/InterBase/GetInfo.pm
Installing /usr/local/man/man3/DBD::InterBase.3pm
Writing /usr/local/lib/perl/5.8.8/auto/DBD/InterBase/.packlist
Appending installation info to /usr/local/lib/perl/5.8.8/perllocal.pod


Edwin Pratomo / DBD-InterBase-0.47 - search.cpan.org

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Thursday, October 18, 2007

gambas 2 (development version) 1.9.90 [LWN.net]

Homepage: http://gambas.sourceforge.net
More Info: http://www.kde-apps.org/content/show.php?content=20018
Description: Gambas is a free development environment based on a Basic interpreter with object extensions, like Visual Basic (but it is NOT a clone!). With Gambas, you can quickly design your program GUI with QT or GTK+, access MySQL, PostgreSQL, Firebird, ODBC and SQLite databases, pilot KDE applications with DCOP, translate your program into any language, create network applications easily, make 3D OpenGL applications, make CGI web applications, and so on...
Changelog: see http://gambas.sourceforge.net/changelog2.html
gambas 2 (development version) 1.9.90 [LWN.net]

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IBPhoenix Open Source ODBC Driver

compiling and installing it on ubuntu
cvs -d:pserver:anonymous@firebird.cvs.sourceforge.net:/cvsroot/firebird login
cvs -z3 -d:pserver:anonymous@firebird.cvs.sourceforge.net:/cvsroot/firebird co OdbcJdbc

cd OdbcJdbc/Builds/Gcc.lin
make -f makefile.linux

Next read the readme.linux

driver seems to be in OdbcJdbc/Builds/Gcc.lin/Release
sudo cp *.so /usr/lib
sudo ln -s /usr/lib/IscDbc.so /usr/lib/IscDbc

sudo ln -s /usr/lib/libIscDbc.so /usr/lib/IscDbc

cat /etc/odbcinst.ini
[Firebird]
Description = InterBase/Firebird ODBC Driver
Driver = /usr/lib/libOdbcJdbc.so
Setup = /usr/lib/libOdbcJdbcS.so
Threading = 1
FileUsage = 1
CPTimeout =
CPReuse =

cat /etc/odbc.ini
[help]
Description = Firebird
Driver = Firebird
Dbname = localhost:/var/lib/firebird/2.0/system/help.fdb
User = SYSDBA
Password = masterkey
Role =
CharacterSet =
ReadOnly = No
NoWait = No


isql -v help
+---------------------------------------+
| Connected!                 |
+---------------------------------------+
SQL> select * from topics;
IBPhoenix Open Source ODBC Driver

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Wednesday, October 17, 2007

firebird compile times on ec2 extra large instance (fedora core 6)

Extra Large Instance 15 GB memory, 64-bit platform 8 EC2 Compute Units (4 virtual cores with 2 EC2 Compute Units each) 1,690 GB instance storage (4 x 420 GB plus 10 GB root partition) Instance Type name: m1.xlarge (used in EC2 APIs)

wget http://garr.dl.sourceforge.net/sourceforge/firebird/Firebird-2.1.0.15999-Beta1.tar.bz2

yum install automake libtool readline-devel libtermcap-devel make btyacc bison gawk gcc-c++ xinetd ncurses-devel
tar -jxf Firebird-2.1.0.15999-Beta1.tar.bz2
./autogen.sh --prefix=/mnt/firebird2.1.x
time make
real    11m49.195s
user    10m11.510s
sys     1m19.200s
cd /mnt/firebird2.1.x/bin

./isql -u sysdba -p **********
connect "/opt/firebird2.1.x/examples/empbuild/employee.fdb"
SQL> SHOW version;
ISQL Version: LI-T2.1.0.15999 Firebird 2.1 Beta 1
Server version:
Firebird/linux AMD64 (access method), version "LI-T2.1.0.15999 Firebird 2.1 Beta 1"
on disk structure version 11.1

Amazon Web Services Developer Connection : Feature Guide: New Instance Types

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building times for firebird 2.1 on amazon ec2 (fedora core 6)

Large Instance 7.5 GB memory, 64-bit platform 4 EC2 Compute Units (2 virtual cores with 2 EC2 Compute Units each) 850 GB instance storage (2 x 420 GB plus 10 GB root partition)
Instance Type name: m1.large (used in EC2 APIs)

Here how can firebird can be build and the time

wget http://garr.dl.sourceforge.net/sourceforge/firebird/Firebird-2.1.0.15999-Beta1.tar.bz2
yum install automake libtool readline-devel libtermcap-devel make btyacc bison gawk gcc-c++ xinetd ncurses-devel
 cd Firebird-2.1.0.15999-Beta1
./autogen.sh --prefix=/opt/firebird2.1.x
time make
real    12m9.498s
user    10m16.980s
sys     1m19.880s
make install


cat /proc/cpuinfo
processor       : 0
vendor_id       : AuthenticAMD
cpu family      : 15
model           : 33
model name      : Dual Core AMD Opteron(tm) Processor 270
stepping        : 2
cpu MHz         : 2004.542
cache size      : 1024 KB
physical id     : 0
siblings        : 1
core id         : 0
cpu cores       : 1
fpu             : yes
fpu_exception   : yes
cpuid level     : 1
wp              : yes
flags           : fpu tsc msr pae mce cx8 apic mca cmov pat pse36 clflush mmx fxsr sse sse2 ht syscall nx mmxext fxsr_opt lm 3dnowext 3dnow pni lahf_lm cmp_legacy
bogomips        : 4010.62
TLB size        : 1024 4K pages
clflush size    : 64
cache_alignment : 64
address sizes   : 40 bits physical, 48 bits virtual
power management: ts fid vid ttp

processor       : 1
vendor_id       : AuthenticAMD
cpu family      : 15
model           : 33
model name      : Dual Core AMD Opteron(tm) Processor 270
stepping        : 2
cpu MHz         : 2004.542
cache size      : 1024 KB
physical id     : 1
siblings        : 1
core id         : 0
cpu cores       : 1
fpu             : yes
fpu_exception   : yes
cpuid level     : 1
wp              : yes
flags           : fpu tsc msr pae mce cx8 apic mca cmov pat pse36 clflush mmx fxsr sse sse2 ht syscall nx mmxext fxsr_opt lm 3dnowext 3dnow pni lahf_lm cmp_legacy
bogomips        : 4010.62
TLB size        : 1024 4K pages
clflush size    : 64
cache_alignment : 64
address sizes   : 40 bits physical, 48 bits virtual
power management: ts fid vid ttp


Amazon Web Services Developer Connection : Feature Guide: New Instance Types

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Firebird Development: Firebird 3.0 is with 7-10% faster than firebird 2.1.x

The most important of what was done during last months is certainly start of FB3 project. This is B3_0_transition tree. We try to keep it stable at the same time making big code cleanup, including MT stability. This tree is going to become a base for FB3. For today the main result that after cleanup it's stable on linux, at the same time showing 7-10% better performance compared with fb2.1. I do not mention separately later problems, fixed in 3.0 transition.
Firebird Development: Database Engine

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Tuesday, October 16, 2007

Amazon.com: New EC2 Instances - quad core and so on

Large Instance 7.5 GB memory 4 EC2 Compute Units (2 virtual cores with 2 EC2 Compute Units each) 850 GB instance storage (2 x 420 GB plus 10 GB root partition) 64-bit platform I/O Performance: High Price: $0.40 per instance hour

Soon i will test with bonie++ and databases load
Amazon.com: Instances - Amazon EC2: Help

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Tuesday, October 09, 2007

building firebird 2.1.x classic from source on ubuntu

cd /opt/build

wget http://garr.dl.sourceforge.net/sourceforge/firebird/Firebird-2.1.0.15999-Beta1.tar.bz2


tar -jxvf Firebird-2.1.0.15999-Beta1.tar.bz2

cd Firebird-2.1.0.15999-Beta1


apt-get install automake libtool libreadline5-dev make btyacc bison gawk g++ xinetd

./autogen.sh --prefix=/opt/firebird2.1.x

make

sudo make install


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Tuesday, August 07, 2007

Firebird clustering - the bad news

The bad news is that it involves coding in firebird core (at least in the lock manager code)

I'm afraid it won't work. The Classic processes should be able to
synchronize the logical I/O operations (page reads/writes) in order to
perform properly. It's done by the integrated lock manager, but it
cannot work between cluster nodes. As soon as the lock manager is
enhanced (or better say fixed) to delegate the calls to the external
distributed lock manager (e.g. RedHat DLM), this would become a workable
solution.

http://tech.groups.yahoo.com/group/firebird-support/message/88130

.:():..:():..:():.

Firebird SQL Clustering questions

Here comes the fire cluster question
I want to build an Load Balanced Active/Passive Firebird SQL Cluster
(two Active/Passive clusters which have access to the same data). So
the set up will be as follows:
1. Two Redhat GFS Clusters
2. One shared storage of 1TB
3. Layer7 Switch

So my idea is to implement GFS on the shared storage (/shared/db) and
then create two quorums one for one cluster, and the other for the
second cluster. After that I would register the following into a
cluster service:
- Shared IP address
- Shared Storage
- Firebird init.d script

So have anyone managed to create such scenario or is this kind of
scenario supported on Firebird 2.0.1 Classic.


.:():..:():..:():.

Thursday, June 14, 2007

quote of the day - mysql , HTTP engine

I was explaining the HTTP engine to a group at the bar there. And this one guy is watching, and he talks to me a little bit, and he goes off. We’re sitting around for the bar for like another hour, and he comes back and says, "Look at this." He had been to Google Spreadsheets, and what he had done was written a RESTful URL and placed it into the HTTP engine and then started collecting data off of a Google spreadsheet and displaying inside the database. So every time he did a SELECT on the database, it was actually pulling data from this Google spreadsheet that he had connected to

Interview with Brian Aker - LinuxWorld

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Monday, May 07, 2007

Did you know stored procedures are atomic in Firebird?

that is quote of the day

Did you know stored procedures are atomic? from the presentation



Real World Applications Using Firebird

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Thursday, April 05, 2007

Great Expectations for Jruby 1.0

[Can someone try Firebird with ActiveRecord Jdbc before the Jruby1.0 release??]
Since the release of JRuby 0.9.8 about a month ago, information about JRuby progress has been a little hard to find. But the latest news out of the JRuby camp leaves us no doubt that it is because the team is working harder than ever in order to deliver JRuby 1.0 before JavaOne.

InfoQ: Great Expectations for JRuby 1.0

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Thursday, March 29, 2007

Firebird 2.1 Alpha 1 Ready for Field Testing

The Firebird team is pleased to announce that the first Alpha builds of Firebird V.2.1 are ready for testing. Binary and source kits for Linux and and some Win64 and Win32 kits should start appearing at the Sourceforge mirrors today. For a summary of new features and bug fixes, see HERE.

.:():..:():..:():.

Thursday, January 25, 2007

win64 crazyness for labraries

In the same vein, the System32 directory is reserved for 64-bit libraries. 32-bit libraries go into SysWOW64. That's right: 64-bit libraries are in System32, 32-bit libraries in SysWOW64.You should be aware of this, otherwise you may have a hard time locating your 32-bit Firebird components on a 64-bit Windows system.(Incidentally, WOW stands for Windows on Windows. Now you can also work out what LOL means.)

Default disk locations

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Thursday, January 18, 2007

firebird (evil mode) - sometimes i'd rather be a Penguin

Ann Harrisonshowing a sample of the Borland InterBase OpenSource 6.0 announcement T-Shirt. 500 of these have been made, so it's kind of a rarity.
Linux - damn! How Often Do You Do That ?!
Firebird - sometimes i'd rather be a Penguin!
 

Firebird Conference 2006 - Ann Harrison

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Firebird 3.0 Roadmap

Firebird 3.0 Roadmap

Firebird Conference 2006 - Firebird 3.0 Roadmap

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Firebird Development Priorities - screen shot at firebird conference

Firebird Development Priorities I like these

Firebird Conference 2006 - Firebird Development Priorities

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Thursday, January 11, 2007

Merging Vulcan and firebird code

Dmitry Yemanov today posted to the Firebird-devel list his proposals for merging the Firebird 2 code with the Vulcan code. If you are interested in how it will be done and who will be doing it, subscribe to the list and watch the thread entitled "Merge Proposal".

Firebird - Relational Database for the New Millenium

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