Software Update: Firebird 2.0 beta 1

Databases are often used to store large amounts of data. Since these are easier to maintain and access than a simple text document in which the data is recorded. Well-known names are of course Oracle with its Oracle 9i database, IBM with the DB2 database and Microsoft with SQL Server.

Firebird originated from the InterBase database of Inprise Corp (nowadays Borland Software Corp), the history of InterBase and Firebird is at this page to read. This relational database supports various operating systems on which it can be installed, such as the Linux and Windows platform, making it widely deployable. The developers released the first beta version of 2.0 with the following notes:

The Firebird Project is pleased to announce the release today of the first Firebird 2.0 public Beta kits for immediate download and testing.

Firebird 2 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tables, support for Execute Block, increased table sizes, new improved index code (the 252-byte index length limit is no longer applicable), expression indices, numerous optimizer improvements, enhanced security features, support for on-line incremental backups, new international language support, along with numerous other improvements and bug fixes.

Note Firebird 2 includes ODS changes. So, backup anything you want to keep before uninstalling a previous Firebird version or an alpha build of Fb 2.

The following builds are currently available:

Windows:

• Official Windows Setup and Installer For Classic and SuperServer 2.0 Beta 1 (.exe) (4.1MB)
• SuperServer and Classic for Windows 2.0 Beta 1 (.zip) (5.0MB)
• Embedded Server for Windows 2.0 Beta 1 (.zip) (2.5MB)
• Windows Debug Build 2.0 Beta 1 (.exe) (6.5MB)
• Windows Debug Build 2.0 Beta 1 (.zip) (10.1MB)
• Embedded Server Debug Build for Windows 2.0 Beta 1 (.zip) (4.7MB)

Classic for Linux on i686

• Classic for Linux 2.0 Beta 1 (.rpm) (4.4MB)
• Classic for Linux 2.0 Beta 1 (.tar.gz) (4.3MB)
• Classic Debug Build for Linux 2.0 Beta 1 (.tar.gz) (20.6MB)

Classic for Linux on AMD64

• Classic for Linux AMD64 2.0 Beta 1 (.tar.gz) (4.3MB)
• Classic Debug Build for AMD64 2.0 Beta 1 (.tar.gz) (20.8MB)

Superserver for Linux NPTL on i686

• SuperServer for Linux NPTL 2.0 Beta 1 (.rpm) (4.5MB)
• SuperServer for Linux NPTL 2.0 Beta 1 (.tar.gz) (4.4MB)
• SuperServer Debug Build for Linux NPTL 2.0 Beta 1 (.tar.gz) (20MB)

Release Notes Only

Please download the notes if you do not find them in your kit.

• Firebird 2.0 Beta release notes, zipped PDF rlsnotes20beta1_0200_43.zip (617 KB)

Feedback, input and comments re this release will be appreciated, as they will help to speed up the cycle for the full Firebird 2.0 release.

Happy Testing!
— Firebird Project