Join Firebird!

Join Firebird Foundation to support Firebird SQL development and receive multiple bonuses

Follow Us

Select your media preference

Newsletter

Subscribe to Firebird’s Newsletter to receive the latest news

Newsletter
May 16, 2016
Firebird Developers Day

The 13th Firebird Developers' Day (FDD) will be held in Piracicaba - SP, Brazil on July 9th. This is the biggest conference in the world devoted to the Firebird RDBMS, with an average of 400 attendees. During all the day long, attendees can participate in several sessions presenting subjects of extreme interest for Firebird users. With the recent release of Firebird 3, this year we will have several talks about some of its new features, specially focusing in performance and security. The attendees also have the chance to buy Firebird tools with huge discounts, thanks to our sponsors.
FDD is mostly a Portuguese speaking conference, although there is always the presence of some international speaker (with translation). This year, we have confirmed the presence of Alexey Kovyazin, CEO of IBSurgeon.

Registration are already open - the price raises with the conference proximity, so registering now is a good idea to save money. During the registration process, subscribers have the chance to donate any amount to the Firebird Foundation.


Migration Guide to Firebird 3

Firebird 3 is focused on performance and security. Many changes were necessary to accomplish this, and some of those changes may confuse some users coming from older versions. The Migration Guide to Firebird 3 eBook came to help existing users to understand those changes, and migrate their servers/databases to Firebird 3, avoiding headaches and in the shortest time possible.
More information about the English version of the eBook can be seen here.
For Brazilians, there is a version in Portuguese here.
Firebird Developers Day

The 13th Firebird Developers' Day (FDD) will be held in Piracicaba - SP, Brazil on July 9th. This is the biggest conference in the world devoted to the Firebird RDBMS, with an average of 400 attendees. During all the day long, attendees can participate in several sessions presenting subjects of extreme interest for Firebird users. With the recent release of Firebird 3, this year we will have several talks about some of its new features, specially focusing in performance and security. The attendees also have the chance to buy Firebird tools with huge discounts, thanks to our sponsors.
FDD is mostly a Portuguese speaking conference, although there is always the presence of some international speaker (with translation). This year, we have confirmed the presence of Alexey Kovyazin, CEO of IBSurgeon.

Registration are already open - the price raises with the conference proximity, so registering now is a good idea to save money. During the registration process, subscribers have the chance to donate any amount to the Firebird Foundation.


Migration Guide to Firebird 3

Firebird 3 is focused on performance and security. Many changes were necessary to accomplish this, and some of those changes may confuse some users coming from older versions. The Migration Guide to Firebird 3 eBook came to help existing users to understand those changes, and migrate their servers/databases to Firebird 3, avoiding headaches and in the shortest time possible.
More information about the English version of the eBook can be seen here.
For Brazilians, there is a version in Portuguese here.
April 19, 2016

Firebird 3.0 Is Available Now


With major improvements in performance, security and SQL features

April 19, 2016 -- The Firebird Project is pleased to announce the release of version 3 of Firebird, its open source relational database management system. 

This version is the most extensive re-architecture of the Firebird DBMS since its initial release more than 14 years ago.  Its new multi-threaded engine processes and shared page caching enable better utilization of multi-core hardware and large address spaces.  With these changes, this release features dramatic performance increases, while maintaining compatibility with old client libraries.

In addition, Firebird 3.0 includes a long list of SQL improvements (including Window and statistical functions), enhanced security features such as wire and database encryption and multiple security databases, and more -- over 100 significant improvements.  Yet even with its new enterprise-level features, it retains the tiny footprint and simple deployment and management that have made it "the right tool for the job" for so many applications. 

Steve Summers, President of the non-profit Firebird Foundation, said: "We're very excited about this release. Re-architecting a system as complex as a relational database system is a very difficult task. We're extremely impressed with the skills shown by Firebird's development team and the great job they've done."

Dmitry Yemanov, the core team leader, agreed. "Firebird 3.0 development was quite a challenge but we've finally completed the work and ensured that it complies with our QA standards. Besides the scalability and security features that were our top priority tasks, I'm particularly happy about the performance improvements in garbage collection and incremental backup areas. With the renewed architecture and significantly refactored code, this release establishes a solid platform for our further progress. Thanks to all the Firebird developers and contributors."

Mr. Summers added: "If you're building a system that needs to store structured data at end-users' sites, from a few megabytes to hundreds of gigabytes, on a desktop or a network with thousands of users, Firebird has always been a great choice. It's an even better choice now. You owe it to yourself to at least take a look!"

Pricing and Availability

Firebird 3.0 is an open source database system that is completely free of charge for any use – including deployment as part of commercial products (not just non-profit, private or educational use like some of its competitors).  Both binary packages and the complete source code can be downloaded at no cost through the Firebird Project website.  No registration or activation is required. 

As of today, Firebird 3.0 is available in 32 and 64 bit versions for both Windows and Linux. OS X and other platforms will be available soon. Drivers for JDBC (Java), .NET, ODBC, Python and more are also available through the FirebirdSQL.org web site, along with documentation. Additional tools (drivers, administration, replication, UDF (user-defined-function) libraries, etc.) are also available through third parties.

About the Firebird Foundation

The Firebird Foundation is a non-profit organization that supports the development and maintenance of the Firebird relational database system. The Foundation was incorporated in 2002 and is currently supported by more than 300 active members and 23 sponsors. If you find Firebird useful, and especially if it is helping you earn money, please join us to help ensure the future of this valuable tool.  For details, please click the Community tab on our website.

For more information, contact:

Steve Summers, [email protected], or

Alexey Kovyazin, [email protected]

Firebird 3.0 Is Available Now


With major improvements in performance, security and SQL features

April 19, 2016 -- The Firebird Project is pleased to announce the release of version 3 of Firebird, its open source relational database management system. 

This version is the most extensive re-architecture of the Firebird DBMS since its initial release more than 14 years ago.  Its new multi-threaded engine processes and shared page caching enable better utilization of multi-core hardware and large address spaces.  With these changes, this release features dramatic performance increases, while maintaining compatibility with old client libraries.

In addition, Firebird 3.0 includes a long list of SQL improvements (including Window and statistical functions), enhanced security features such as wire and database encryption and multiple security databases, and more -- over 100 significant improvements.  Yet even with its new enterprise-level features, it retains the tiny footprint and simple deployment and management that have made it "the right tool for the job" for so many applications. 

Steve Summers, President of the non-profit Firebird Foundation, said: "We're very excited about this release. Re-architecting a system as complex as a relational database system is a very difficult task. We're extremely impressed with the skills shown by Firebird's development team and the great job they've done."

Dmitry Yemanov, the core team leader, agreed. "Firebird 3.0 development was quite a challenge but we've finally completed the work and ensured that it complies with our QA standards. Besides the scalability and security features that were our top priority tasks, I'm particularly happy about the performance improvements in garbage collection and incremental backup areas. With the renewed architecture and significantly refactored code, this release establishes a solid platform for our further progress. Thanks to all the Firebird developers and contributors."

Mr. Summers added: "If you're building a system that needs to store structured data at end-users' sites, from a few megabytes to hundreds of gigabytes, on a desktop or a network with thousands of users, Firebird has always been a great choice. It's an even better choice now. You owe it to yourself to at least take a look!"

Pricing and Availability

Firebird 3.0 is an open source database system that is completely free of charge for any use – including deployment as part of commercial products (not just non-profit, private or educational use like some of its competitors).  Both binary packages and the complete source code can be downloaded at no cost through the Firebird Project website.  No registration or activation is required. 

As of today, Firebird 3.0 is available in 32 and 64 bit versions for both Windows and Linux. OS X and other platforms will be available soon. Drivers for JDBC (Java), .NET, ODBC, Python and more are also available through the FirebirdSQL.org web site, along with documentation. Additional tools (drivers, administration, replication, UDF (user-defined-function) libraries, etc.) are also available through third parties.

About the Firebird Foundation

The Firebird Foundation is a non-profit organization that supports the development and maintenance of the Firebird relational database system. The Foundation was incorporated in 2002 and is currently supported by more than 300 active members and 23 sponsors. If you find Firebird useful, and especially if it is helping you earn money, please join us to help ensure the future of this valuable tool.  For details, please click the Community tab on our website.

For more information, contact:

Steve Summers, [email protected], or

Alexey Kovyazin, [email protected]
November 20, 2015
Firebird 2.5.5, Firebird 3.0 RC1, and Firebird documentation

Firebird 2.5.5 – upgrade now!

Firebird Project is glad to announce that Firebird 2.5.5 is available. This minor release has many bug fixes and highly recommended to be used in production environments, especially if you are running Firebird 2.5.0, 2.5.1, 2.5.3 or 2.5.4 – upgrade to 2.5.5 as soon as possible!
Please note that upgrade from 2.5.1 will require backup/restore, upgrade from other versions can be done without backup/restore.

Download links for Firebird 2.5.5:

http://www.firebirdsql.org/en/firebird-2-5-5/


Firebird 3.0 Release Candidate 1 – test it!

Last week Firebird project has released Firebird 3.0 RC1 – the first release candidate of Firebird 3.0. We encourage all Firebird developers to test this Release Candidate with your databases and applications. Firebird 3 introduces a lot of new features and improvements, including scalable SuperServer architecture, which gives 30-50% performance boost.

Download Firebird 3.0 RC1:

http://www.firebirdsql.org/en/firebird-3-0-0-rc1/


Firebird Documentation


The Firebird Docs team is calling for people who are fluent in both English and Firebird's SQL to assist with reviewing the English text of the Firebird 2.5 Language Reference manual.
If you feel able to help with the review, please send email to [email protected]
It will subscribe you to Firebird-docs list where you can get beta version of documentation and help with its reviewing.

Firebird 2.5.5, Firebird 3.0 RC1, and Firebird documentation

Firebird 2.5.5 – upgrade now!

Firebird Project is glad to announce that Firebird 2.5.5 is available. This minor release has many bug fixes and highly recommended to be used in production environments, especially if you are running Firebird 2.5.0, 2.5.1, 2.5.3 or 2.5.4 – upgrade to 2.5.5 as soon as possible!
Please note that upgrade from 2.5.1 will require backup/restore, upgrade from other versions can be done without backup/restore.

Download links for Firebird 2.5.5:

http://www.firebirdsql.org/en/firebird-2-5-5/


Firebird 3.0 Release Candidate 1 – test it!

Last week Firebird project has released Firebird 3.0 RC1 – the first release candidate of Firebird 3.0. We encourage all Firebird developers to test this Release Candidate with your databases and applications. Firebird 3 introduces a lot of new features and improvements, including scalable SuperServer architecture, which gives 30-50% performance boost.

Download Firebird 3.0 RC1:

http://www.firebirdsql.org/en/firebird-3-0-0-rc1/


Firebird Documentation


The Firebird Docs team is calling for people who are fluent in both English and Firebird's SQL to assist with reviewing the English text of the Firebird 2.5 Language Reference manual.
If you feel able to help with the review, please send email to [email protected]
It will subscribe you to Firebird-docs list where you can get beta version of documentation and help with its reviewing.

March 19, 2015
October 22, 2014