> dkeith2 wrote:
> > I have read in older threads on other sites that versions of
> Firebird prior to the 2.1.x series had no way of 'packing' the database
> pages without restoring from a backup file. I was hoping that perhaps
> with the addition of the nbackup utility or by any other means this
> shortcoming may have been overcome.
>
> Unfortunately, the core team does not seem to view this as enough of a
> liability to change it. Perhaps if someone were to sponsor the change
> it
> would get done. Since it keeps coming up and keeps getting pushed aside
> I don't think anything short of sponsorship will change it.
>
> --
> Doug C.

there is never a need to "pack" your data. Unless you are creating a read only database and need to keep storage to an absolute minimum.
Disk space is cheap, so that's no reason.
If you do do a B/R cycle to re-write the DB, the first thing the server will do when you start to write again into it, is to ask the OS for more space. So the space is allocated almost immediately again, albeit a contiguous block. But disks are very high performance these days. You would find it very hard to notice any performance difference associated with data spread around on differnet pages. You are better off devoting your time to ensuring you have created the correct indexes.

Even if someone wanted to sponsor such a feature, I think most of us would say that the money is better spent where it would actually do some good. This "feature" is next to useless IMO.
Alan