Firebird not experimental

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TLTR. Propose Take Firebird out of experimental mode and explain author’s opinion about current situation of Firebird implementation, and the benefits of put it in service.

Background

Base is undoubtedly the ugly duckling of LibreOffice.

The reasons why, in my opinion Base is not more used are

Firebird implementation. Back to experimental mode

Firebird started to be implemented as the default database to replace HSQLDB in order to avoid the use of Java and increase the database handling speed.

In addition to the creation of the Firebird driver, an attempt was made to perform the procedure of automatic migration of HSQLDB databases to the new Firebird database engine.

After a while, the combination of some Firebird bugs with several bugs in the migration procedure forced to put Firebird and the migration procedure back in experimental mode.

Going back to experimental mode, makes Firebird hidden from most potential Base users, who only see the outdated, slow and corruptible HSQLDB. This causes the user to stop paying attention to Base, which leads to developers also stopping paying attention to Base.

Current status of Firebird implementation

According to TDF#51780 (Database-Firebird-Default) - [META] Default to Firebird not HSQLDB in Base (for new_files), there currently do not appear to be any bugs that actually affect the functionality of the Firebird database engine.

Most are enhancement requests to take advantage of capabilities that Firebird has that do not exist in other databases or are implemented in a different way (e.g. TDF#151344, TDF#148266 o TDF#148663), others are errors which also exist in other databases (e.g. TDF#144256), and finally, others are lack of understanding of how Firebird works or how it is configured (e.g. TDF#135616).

HSQLDB Migration

According to TDF#116968 (Database-Firebird-Migration) - [META] Migrating existing embedded HSQLDB databases to Firebird, there do not seem to be any serious problems preventing its use, but in any case, the migration process should not be automatic, in my point of view. Very few databases offer a migration process from one database to another, unless there is a commercial and/or economic interest in doing so.

That is why the migration process should not be proposed in such an invasive way when you open a HSQLDB database and at the same time you are using Firebird (because you have activated the experimental functions). This process could be associated to a wizard or an independent menu option.

Proposal

In considering the above, I propose to the ESC (or whomever it may concern):

Simply the first measure, I believe would serve so that collaborators that are working in Firebird (for example, Firebird 5 implementation ¡somebody is trying it!), do not feel discouraged before any problem. The current situation would lead to the collaborators to think that their work is wasting time in a database that is going to be always cornered.

Regards

--
Juan C. Sanz

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