>Dominique Louis wrote:
> >
> >Does the "of Course" mean that I should be able to read a 5.6 database with
> >IB 6.0 without doing a back up first or that this feature will be
> >implemented in a future version? Because if you mean the former, when I
> >try and open a 5.6 db with IB Console I get the following message...
> >Unsupported on-disk structure for file C:\ARCHIVOS DE
> >PROGRAMA\BORLAND\DELPHI4\PROJECTS\REMS\DATA\REMS.GDB; found 9, support 10
> >If the console knows that the db is version 9 and supports 10 then it
> >should prompt me if it should upgrade the db to 10 thus allowing me to open
> >the database without too much fuss.
> >Similar to the way Delphi asks to upgade form structure to the latest
> >version when you open older version forms for the first time.
> >If IBConsole has this capability to automagically upgrade my 5.6 db to 6.0,
> >please let me know how I can achieve it.
> >
> >
>Jim Starkey wrote:
>Hmmm. Perhaps I was a little hasty. I was speaking for the past
>and for the future. The present is a little more difficult.

Unless I've totally missed something here, I thought (despite the title of
the thread) that Dominique was asking about the feasibility of building a
tool that would make "upward compatibility" feasible without going through
the process of backing up with the old version's GBAK and the restoring
with the new version's GBAK.

Jim's reply seemed to be saying that one never had to do that - that
opening, say, a 4.x gdb with the 5.x client would "just work". Well, it
wasn't the case from 4.x to 5.x, at least. So 5.x to 6 has at least one
previous migration as a precedent - you get the 'unsupported disk
structure' error until and unless you do the GBAK/RESTORE thing.

I heartily agree with the argument for not having a client tool that
upgrades the ODS of the live database. That would be very scary.

Helen
http://www.interbase2000.org
___________________________________________________
"Ask not what your free, open-source database can do for you,
but what you can do for your free, open-source database."
(J.F.K.)