heineferreira wrote:

> Hi
>
> How does Firebird compare to Postgresql?
> I have downloaded both database systems and would like to know
> the advantages and disadvantages of both.
> I read somewhere on the internet that Postgres needs vast amounts of
> ram for big databases. A friend of mine says that he runs 30gb
> databases on entry level pc's. The reason why I want to compare the
> two is because they are the only databasis that are 100% open source
> and free for commercial use.

Aside to what Richard wrote, consider also:
- Firebird can be deployed much easier (moved, installed aso.)
- Firebird can be configured and maintained/administered much easier
("it just works" you do not need to pay attention to it, you can
concentrate on your app)
- Firebird is _much_ more mature on Windows (in fact is #1 here - but Fb
marketing didn't stress this so much... unfortunately) - stability, much
richer connectivity on Windows platforms like Win32 Delphi (many
libraries with "thousands" of features - see IBO for example), C/C++,
all .NET development environments, Java, Python, PHP aso. As a rule of
thumb: If you want to do Win development, hands down, look no further.
- Postgres's documentation is bigger and better, IMHO. As "workaround"
for Fb, excluding Google, firebirdsql.org, and other sites you can use
safely this list, some persons here, especially the ones "wearing the
moderator/admin hat" ;) are very skilled and quick in responses. Also,
our Helen wrote a book "The Firebird book - A reference for database
developers" (APress) which is a very nice (and detailed) reading not
only for Fb but also for SQL in general.
- About the functions which Richard wrote, thus< I'd like to see more
_built-in_ functions in Fb, the UDFs are a "great" feature, but
personally I don't use them. For 'normal' usage the 'bare' Firebird is
enough to do almost anything in the financial/business area of
applications. If you want to do something more 'special' like
spatial/temporal data processing, true FTS support, very high-precision
math (1000 significant digits) (- but, beware, this is slow...), custom
special data types aso. then your choice is Postgres.

In a few words:

- Q: Windows ? A: Firebird
- Q: Extreme database needs ? A: Postgres
- Q: Auto administration and/or need to deploy ? A: Firebird
- Q: Need many docs at hand ? A: Postgres
- Q: Need good connectivy? A: Firebird

> From what I could gather it looks like
> Postgresql comes with quite a good and free database administration
> tool. It seems however that FlameRobin is very basic and is still in
> 0.75 release.
>
>

Not true. And I'm rather *upset* on this. :) Not on you. On Milan
(Babuskov). Because he (and his team) did a great job with that and IMHO
they managed to hide the unneeded features (IOW is a very discrete and
streamlined UI) but, *unfortunately* (I hope that Milan reads this) they
have a curious branding (ie. put a 0.76 on a quite mature product) and
more, on firebirdsql.org writes that the product is in Alpha stage, thus
growing the FUD. You can use it safely. This is a rather general
"disease" on Firebrid community: much better products than their
marketing. (But in a way I'm happy with this... Imagine what would
happen if it would be the reverse... :) ) But if you don't want to use
it, you have a plenty of choices at

http://www.ibphoenix.com/main.nfs?a=ibphoenix&page=ibp_admin_tools

(Many of us use the freeware versions of some commercial products which
are _much_ more advanced than pgAdmin III which is bundled with Postgres.)

hth,
m.th.

> Heine Ferreia