lysander_fb wrote:

> I am at a loss, however, in pinning down the main differences in
> architecture and usability between the two systems.

MySQL stored each table and index in its own file. You can use file
system commands to delete a table from a database by deleting the file.
As far as I know, you can choose a different backend for each data
file. In the new version, you can also choose ANSI-mode, Oracle-mode,
MySQL mode, etc. Each mode and each engine has different semantics and
the engines have grossly different operational characteristics. If I
remember correctly, the mode is chosen on a per-connection basis, so you
can have a single data file with ANSI mode data (i.e. an empty string is
not a null) and Oracle mode data (an empty string is a null) and MySQL
data ('0/0/05' is a legitimate date.).

Firebird stores its whole database in a single logical file - possibly
divided into several physical files, depending on hardware and O/S
constraints. Firebird has three configurations: Classic, SuperServer,
and Embedded. All three have exactly the same semantics. Switching
between configurations is completely transparent to the client application.

Regards,


Ann