Christopher Chan wrote:

...removed...

Calm down chaps.

Can we summarise as follows:

The original question centred around the ability to distribute Firebird
(embedded) as a file copy.

This should be OK, although it would be much better to ensure that the
files were originally created on the same kind of system as that to
which they are to be deployed. The Firebird installer for Windows, at
least, appears only to unzip a bundle of files and stick them in a
directory somewhere (...and install the service, etc).

There are different requirements for embedded Firebird on Windows and
Linux, so install the appropriate bits.

With respect to database portability, use the appropriate mechanism.
Some databases require preparation and conversion to a transportable
mode, others support it and others still do not have the ability at all.
As described in a previous response, "transportation" is desirable
with Firebird, because the process will handle garbage and reset
internal values. MySql, until version 5, had no transaction support,
etc. so had no internal "cleaning" to do. A simple file copy under those
conditions carries no risk.

Distributing a new, empty Firebird database as a file copy should be
safe, because there are no internals to fix.

regards
ian