> As far as I can see, Jason is doing multiple things at once:
>
> - full Firebird 2.1/2.5 support, this requires quite some changes to IBO
> with regard to parsing and aliassing

Most of this is already done. I believe everything in 2.1 has already been
done for some time.

> - being able to compile IBO in D2009

That's already done. Alpha version has already been made available to all
customers who request it.

> - real Unicode support? (what else would a D2009 be good for?)

This is a work in progress. The changes to do this are going to be very
substantial. Especially since to my knowledge I have to continue to support
an exclusively non-unicode API.

> How this is coming along? From reading the messages in this list, I wonder
> if Unicode support is going to be part of the release...

Full Unicode support in terms of having things ideal is not due out soon.
There are some question marks surrounding what I will be able to do at the
API level. I have to carefully look into what the InterBase and Firebird
development teams are doing about it.

Regards,
Jason Wharton