I have an cluster of older database formats (32bit firebird 1.5) and I wish to see about migrating them to a newer firebird 2.5 64 bit format.

We replicate using older custom C code on telco servers, so redesigning the replication code and getting it certified for use is a non-starter.

So, we have to use the existing technology, which, having been designed over 14 years ago, has some logic holes that we have to make allowances for.

One of those holes happens to be a dependency upon null sort order.

The newer database engine returns nulls with a different precedence than the older 1.5 firebird.

I can not change the queries (the client replication apps) to change the null sort order.

So, I am wondering if there was some database or server specific configuration setting that would change the default null sort order to the older methods.

All ideas welcome.