Within a week of the InterBase 6.0 source being released by Borland on 25 July 2000,[4][5] the Firebird project was created on SourceForge.[6][7] Firebird 1.0 was released for Linux, Microsoft Windows and Mac OS X on 11 March 2002,[8] with ports to Solaris, FreeBSD 4, HP-UX over the next two months.[9]
Work on porting the codebase from C to C++ began in 2000. On 23 February 2004, Firebird 1.5 was released,[10] which was the first stable release of the new codebase. Version 1.5 featured an improved query optimizer, SQL-92 conditional expressions, SQL:1999savepoints and support for explicit locking.[11] Firebird 2.0 was released on 12 November 2006,[12] adding support for 64-bit architectures, tables nested in FROM clauses, and programmable lock timeouts in blockingtransactions.[13]
The most recent stable version is Firebird 3.0, released 19 April 2016, with focus in performance and security. A major re-architecture of the code allowed total support to SMP machines when using the SuperServer version.[16]
This decision caused concern within the Firebird database project due to the assumption that users and Internet search engines would be confused by a database and a web browser both using the name Firebird.[20][21] The Mozilla developers issued a statement,[22] making clear that their software package was called "Mozilla Firebird", not "Firebird".[23][24] The statement also said that the Mozilla Firebird name was a project codename.
The dispute was resolved on 9 February 2004, when Mozilla changed the name of its browser to Mozilla Firefox, thus ending the conflict.[25][26][27]
Firebird inherited the storage architecture of Interbase. To ensure the ACID properties of transactions, the database engine keeps different versions of each record changed by the active users in the database. When the transactions are committed, the last version of every changed record is marked as the definitive. If transactions are rolled back, the database engine keeps the mark on the original record versions, leaving them untouched.[32] As a result, Firebird disk writes are very reduced compared to databases that use the traditional transaction log architecture.[33] Writing transactions does not prevent reading and vice versa, because each one sees its own version of the database.[34] The tradeoff is that some maintenance ("sweeping") is required from time to time to clean up old record versions and free disk space.[35]
The multi-generational architecture ensures that OLTP and DSS/OLAP operations can be run simultaneously without the delays caused by locking mechanisms found in other products.[36]
Indexesedit
Firebird makes all indices of the database behave like well-tuned "clustered indexes" used by other architectures. Firebird index buckets aren't subject to two-phase locking, and boolean "and" and "or" operations can be performed on intermediate bitmaps at a negligible cost, eliminating the need for the optimizer to choose between alternative indexes.[37]
Variantsedit
Firebird SuperServer has a single daemon/server for all client connections, multithreaded with shared cache
Firebird SuperClassic also has a single daemon/server for all client connections, multithreaded with separate caches
Firebird Classic uses inetd to run one copy of the server per client connection, recommended for SMP systems but might have event-notification issues if access is via a firewall
Firebird Embedded for creating CD-ROM catalogs, single user or evaluation versions of applications
Licensingedit
The Firebird database engine and its modules are released under an open-source license, the Initial Developer's Public License (IDPL), a variant of the Mozilla Public License (MPL) version 1.1. It does not require the developer to open the products using Firebird or even custom-derivatives made from its source code, but if the developer chooses to do so, then some terms and conditions should be honored. The IDPL allows the developer to make proprietary, closed-source applications that use Firebird or are based on it.[38]
Connectivity APIsedit
Low-level Firebird Native API, Services API and embedded SQLedit
The Firebird native API is used directly or indirectly by applications or middleware that connect to a Firebird database. It is implemented in the client library, fbclient.dll, on Windows systems, and in libfbclient.so on Unix ones.[39]
The Services API is a special function set for accessing and controlling service administration tasks such as user management, backup/restore and statistics gathering.
Embedded SQL is a technique that simplifies the development of C/C++ and COBOL Firebird applications, by using a preprocessor called gpre, which allows the embedding of SQL statements directly into the source code of the host language.[40]
Awardsedit
2007. SourceForge Community Choice Award: Best Project for enterprise, Best user support.[41]
2009. SourceForge Community Choice Award: Best Project for enterprise. Finalist on Best Project and Best Project for Government.[42]
^"Firebird 5.0.0". 11 January 2024. Retrieved 14 January 2024.
^"Firebird: A powerful, cross platform, SQL database system". SourceForge. SourceForge Media, LLC. 25 April 2018. Retrieved 2 May 2018.
^"Firebird 1.5.5 Release Notes". Retrieved 29 September 2009. Firebird 1.5.5 General Notes for rewriting it from C to C++ language
^"Inprise/Borland Introduces InterBase 6.0 Now Free and Open Source on Linux, Windows, and Solaris". 16 July 2000. Archived from the original on 6 December 2004. Retrieved 29 January 2009.
^"Borland.com: Inprise/Borland Introduces Interbase 6.0 Now Free and Open Source on Linux". Linux Today. Archived from the original on 30 June 2009. Retrieved 29 January 2009.
^Paul Reeves. "What's happening to InterBase". Borland User Group. p. 2. Retrieved 14 March 2014.
^"IBPhoenix Community News Archive". 11 March 2000. Retrieved 29 January 2009.[permanent dead link]
^"IBPhoenix Community News Archive". 11 April 2000. Retrieved 29 January 2009.[permanent dead link]
^"Firebird Relational Database 1.5 Final Out". Slashdot. 23 February 2004. Retrieved 31 January 2009.
^Helen Borrie (5 October 2009). "Firebird 1.5.6 Release Notes". Firebird Project. Retrieved 10 June 2012.
^Dmitry Yemanov. "Firebird 2.0 Final Release Launches in Prague". Retrieved 5 February 2009.
^Helen Borrie (5 April 2012). "Firebird 2.0.7 Release Notes". Retrieved 10 June 2012.
^Helen Borrie (20 July 2014). "Firebird 2.1 Release Notes". Retrieved 20 July 2014.
^Helen Borrie (19 November 2015). "Firebird 2.5.5 Release Notes". Retrieved 19 November 2015.
^Gray, James (29 July 2016). "The Firebird Project's Firebird Relational Database | Linux Journal". www.linuxjournal.com. Linux Journal. Archived from the original on 1 March 2020. Retrieved 1 March 2020.
^mariuz (14 February 2012). "Firebird Embedded and LibreOffice is the killer combination to scale from a single file application to a client/server approach". Firebirdnews.org. Retrieved 8 July 2013.
^ahunt (28 May 2013). "GSOC 2013: LibreOffice Firebird SQL Connector". Retrieved 8 July 2013.
^Dotzler, Asa (14 April 2003). "Phoenix and Minotaur to be renamed Firebird and Thunderbird". MozillaZine. Retrieved 29 January 2016.
^Mozilla browser becomes Firebird, IBPhoenix, archived from the original on 23 April 2003, retrieved 29 January 2016
^Bishop, Alex (21 April 2003). "Firebird Database Project Admin Ann Harrison Interviewed". MozillaZine. Retrieved 29 January 2016.
^"mozilla branding". The Mozilla Organization. 25 April 2003. Archived from the original on 26 April 2003. Retrieved 31 January 2016.
^Festa, Paul (7 May 2003). "Mozilla's Firebird gets wings clipped". CNET. CBS Interactive. Retrieved 29 January 2016.
^Bishop, Alex (14 May 2003). "Christopher Blizzard of mozilla.org speaks on the Firebird naming conflict". MozillaZine. Retrieved 29 January 2016.
^Paul Festa (9 February 2004). "Mozilla holds 'fire' in naming fight". CNET. CBS Interactive. Retrieved 29 January 2016.
^"Mozilla Firebird Renamed Firefox, Version 0.8 Released". MozillaZine. 9 February 2004. Retrieved 29 January 2016.
^"Mozilla Firefox - Brand Name Frequently Asked Questions". mozilla.org. Mozilla Foundation. Retrieved 29 January 2016.