Hugh,

> My firm is currently using an Open Source IB extensively across our
> enterprise. We are concerned about our upgrade path as we do not
> want to incur per server license fees for our product. To this end
> we are interested in participating in the FireBird project, however,
> several questions as to compatibility have arisen. If anyone can
> help answer these Qs, we would very much appreciate the assistance.

I will attempt to answer the questions as best I can.

> What sort of compatibility is supported between IB 6.0.x (Open
> Sourced) and FireBird 1.0.x (is ODS the same?; language/syntax
> identical?; will client software interoperate with either release?;
> etc.)? What, if any, incompatibilities exist?

The Firebird v1.x and IB OE are virtually 99.9% compatible -- remember
that they are both from the same IB 6.0 Beta code base. It just happens
that FB v1.x has a large number of bug fixes which IB OE doesn't have.

As long as you don't use any new Firebird features, you will have
complete interoperability! This includes the client software.

> What are the differences /incompatibilities between IB 6.0.x and
> FireBird 1.5? Are these releases' ODSs the same?

Firebird v1.5 introduces a large number of feature enhancements,
including a substantial improvement to the optimizer.

v1.5 also includes some minor syntax changes -- but again, if you keep
to the IB OE syntax, the database will be interoperable.

v1.5 introduces a minor ODS change, which is backward compatible with
v1.x and IB OE.

> What are the differences / incompatibilities between InterBase 7.x
> and Firebird 1.5? Do language / syntax differences appear between
> these releases? ODS differences?

IB 7.0 introduced a new ODS, new BOOLEAN datatype and new system tables,
which are supported by v1.5.

In all other respects the languange/syntax of IB 7.0 is compatible with
FB v1.x

> What about differences between FireBird 1.5 and 2.x? Language
> changes?

The v2.x specs have not yet been developed, so I can't answer this
question at the moment.

I can say that v2.x will have a new ODS, since there are a number of
changes which we have been wanting to make but have held off for as long
as possible.


--
Sean Leyne

- FirebirdSQL Foundation, Sponsor - Silver Level
- FirebirdSQL Foundation, Member
- FirebirdSQL Project Admin (one of many)
http://www.FirebirdSQL.org