> (I've had some correspondence about this on the IB-Conversions list,
> but I was advised to move it here.)
>
> I am the developer of a free program with over 2,000 users, currently
> using Sybase Adaptive Server Anywhere for its database. For various
> reasons, I'm considering switching to Firebird.
>
> My concern is that it has to be absolutely rock solid, zero
> administration, and as close to zero problems (e.g. database
> corruption) as possible. With Sybase ASA, I think in 5 years of
> supporting my program I have had only 1 or 2 users who have actually
> had a problem with their database.
>
> I've asked here before, and was told that yes, Firebird is just that
> rock solid.
>
> However, I just read the first issue of The Interbase and Firebird
> Developer Magazine. I see there are ads in there for products like
> IBSurgeon (for repairing corrupted databases), IBFirstAid (for
> diagnosing and repairing common corruptions of InterBase and Firebird
> databases) and IBBackupSurgeon (for reading data from corrupted
> backups).
>
> The need for these programs has me worried about whether Firebird is
> really rock-solid enough for me to use as the embedded DB in my
> application or not.
>
> Under what sorts of circumstances do Firebird databases, and their
> backups, tend to get corrupted?
>
> Thanks.

hardware failure, using the server on windows98, using the server on windows
with forced writes OFF, really bad roll-your-own UDF libraries which either
crash the server or force the user to give the PC the 3 finger salute,
really badly written applications which are running on the users PC agaisnt
the server (maybe on the same PC) - they have to be really badly written and
there's some talk of these really badly written apps using the embedded
version and corrupting the server's memory space, but I have about 3000
users with the embedded and there is no evidence that this is happening, oh,
and hardware failures.
Alan