Category: General news
Firebird related news
Free Database Workbench Lite edition available!
Upscene Productions is proud to announce the availability of a free feature limited version of Database Workbench, the Lite Edition, for personal non-commercial use. Download it here. There’s a version for Firebird and a version for MySQL.
For details on the feature differences between editions, see this feature matrix.
“Database Workbench is used by thousands of developers around the world, we’re making it available to hobbyists too”, says Martijn Tonies, founder of Upscene Productions. “Everyone can now use the free Lite Edition for personal non-commercial use.”
Database Workbench Basic and up support MySQL, MariaDB, Firebird, Oracle, SQL Server, PostgreSQL, NexusDB, SQLite and InterBase, comes in multiple editions and is licensed based on selectable modules.
It includes tools for database design, database maintenance, testing, data transfer, data import & export, database migration, database compare and numerous other tools.
IBX for Lazarus has moved to GitHub
MWA Software is pleased to announce that the ibx4lazarus package has been successfully rehosted on GitHub. The svn repository has been decommissioned and is no longer available for use. Please go to https://github.com/MWASoftware for all of our software packages.
The move to GitHub has also allowed the package split of ibx4lazarus into three separate packages.
- The Firebird Pascal API (fbintf)
- The ibcontrols package.
- The ibx4lazarus package
fbintf and ibcontrols are dependencies for ibx4lazarus itself and must be installed before ibx4lazarus itself.
In future, please report all issues that apply to any of these packages using the GitHub issues feature.
Rust Firebird Client updated to v0.25.1 with one fix
Rust Firebird Client updated to v0.25.1 with one fix :
Fixed blobs greater than 65535 bytes by @jairinhohw in #161
Crates.io link is here .
Perl extension DBD::Firebird version 1.39 is released
Perl extension DBD::Firebird version 1.39 is released with a small change if you compare with previous announcement : Adapt checks for Firebird headers to Firebird 4.0.5 (gh#54)
Firebird Docker Images Now Under the Firebird Organization
We are pleased to announce the successful migration of Firebird Docker images to their new home:
https://github.com/FirebirdSQL/firebird-docker
The images are now published on Docker Hub at
https://hub.docker.com/r/firebirdsql/firebird
Thanks to Adriano dos Santos Fernandes for his invaluable contributions and improvements throughout this process.
Blob transfer speed optimizations
It is well known that transferring blobs in Firebird over high latency networks (i.e. internet) is very slow. The main reason is that transferring blobs always required lots of roundtrips. The good news is that the donations collected in the 21st Firebird Developers Day (FDD) Brazilian conference are being used to sponsor the improvement of blobs transfer speed. The changes are being developed by Vlad Khorsun and the currently results looks very good (see below)!
Note that the improvements are being developed in two phases. The first phase is ready and didn’t require any changes in the Firebird Wire Protocol, so it will be available in the upcoming Firebird 5.02 release. Transfer times were reduced by 33%-49%.
The second phase is still under development and requires changes in the Firebird Wire Protocol, so it will be available only in Firebird 6, but it already shows great results from 94%-97% improvement! In the best case, the time dropped from 12s to 477msecs!
A sad day for the Firebird Project
As seen in FirebirdSQL official site:
Helen Borrie, a key figure in the Firebird relational database project and a longtime contributor at IBPhoenix, passed away on January 2, 2025. Her contributions were essential to Firebird’s creation and its development over the past 25 years.
Helen’s dedication to the project was unwavering. She played a critical role in establishing the Firebird Foundation and managed its operations as the Foundation’s Secretary. Her work ensured that the project had the structure and support needed to grow and succeed. She often worked behind the scenes, making sure things ran smoothly and that the community had the resources it needed.
She was also the author of The Firebird Book, a comprehensive guide that became an invaluable resource for users and developers. Helen’s writing made Firebird accessible to many, helping them understand and use the database effectively. She was always ready to assist others, sharing her knowledge generously within the user community.
Helen’s quiet leadership and dedication left a lasting impact on Firebird and its users. Her efforts helped build not just a powerful database but also a strong, collaborative community. She will be deeply missed by all who knew her and benefited from her work.
Real-time Firebird – Monitor for Firebird – Server 2.5 – 5.0
A new version 2.0.1.193 is available.
Visit our homepage and download the demo version.
December Issue of EmberWings is Here!
The Firebird Project is happy to announce that the December issue of EmberWings is now available for download! This special edition marks the magazine’s debut under the Firebird Foundation, bringing you a refreshed focus on both Firebird administrators and application developers alike.
This issue is currently available only to all Firebird Associates and Firebird Partners. It will be available to the general public in December 2025.