>>Have come across a problem in Interbase 5.6 and that is that
>>the files associated with external tables (in this case text files)
>>can't be deleted without stopping the Interbase server. This is even after
>>dropping the table. Stopping the server is no option, so it looks I am stuck
>>here.
>>Has this been fixed in Firebird 1.5 or 2.x?
>
> Yes, in v.2.0

Sorry to correct you, but - in 2.1 and not completely. In FB 2.1 engine closed
external table's file when it not referenced by any request (query). Note, stored
procedures and triggers left metadata cache only on engine shutdown or alter\drop.
So, if you referenced external table in some procedure or trigger it will still be
opened by the engine. If you not referenced external table in stored objects it is
enough to close all statements referenced ET to let the engine close the file.

Regards,
Vlad