How TDF uses its tendering process to improve LibreOffice

In 2017, The Document Foundation (TDF) launched four tenders aimed at improving LibreOffice in several strategic areas, where the tasks are beyond the capabilities of independent volunteer developers.

No 4  is interesting for Firebird community 
 

(4) Tender to implement HSQLDB binary format import in LibreOffice
(https://blog.documentfoundation.org/blog/2017/05/04/tender-implement-hsqldb-binary-format-import-libreoffice-201705-03/)

Collabora will develop a mechanism to import database files with high fidelity from the HSQLDB binary file format, which has been used inside many existing ODB files, by reading the Java serialization code, and writing a filter to import all data into LibreOffice Base. The objective is to remove the legacy Java/HSQLDB database and move to Firebird.

TDF will invest € 29,750.00

Database .NET v24 released

Database .NET v24 is an innovative, powerful and intuitive multiple database management tool.
(Full support for Firebird 1.5~4.0+)

http://fishcodelib.com/Database.htm

Firebird Roadmap updated for January

Roadmap Document has been updated with info for all supported releases : 2.5.x , 3.0.x , 4.x

Version series 2.5.x has a maintenance cycle of two point releases per year.

The latest release currently available in this series is v2.5.8. Explore its download locationor documentation.

v2.5.9 is the next point release to come, it’s scheduled for Q4 2018. Follow the “Track Details” icon for a list of bugfixes scheduled for this version.

Track details

Series 3.0.x

Version series 3.0.x is the latest one released by the project and thus it has the highest priority in terms of the bug fixing, with updates scheduled quarterly. All kinds of bugfixes and performance improvements are possible inside its codebase, including ports to new platforms.

Key points:

  • Revised architecture, including new authentication and configuration subsystems;
  • Scalable (SMP/multi-core friendly) multi-threaded engine with the shared page cache;
  • New ODS (version 12) with new system and monitoring tables;
  • External (Java, C++, etc) stored procedures/triggers/functions;
  • Security enhancements;
  • Various SQL extensions.

The latest release currently available in this series is v3.0.2. Explore its download location or documentation.

v3.0.3 is the next point release to come, it’s scheduled for Q1 2018. Follow the “Track Details” icon for a list of bugfixes scheduled for this version.

Track details

New Development: version 4.0

Firebird 4.0 represents the project’s next milestone release after v3.0, its development has been started in March 2016.

You may check what features to expect at the v4.0 planning board. Use the “Track Details” icon to discover the list of tasks currently scheduled for v4.0 Beta Release.

Alpha 1 preview release is available for testing. Daily v4.0 builds can be downloaded from the snapshot area.

Track details

 

 

 

 

Fix for Meltdown and Spectre will affect your server performance!

Microsoft, Apple and several Linux distros started to distribute patches to try to fix the recent security flaws found in Intel, AMD and ARM CPUs, in almost every CPU released in the last 20 years. The security flaws are known as Meltdown (affects Intel) and Spectre (affects Intel, AMD and some ARM processors).

The flaw allow softwares to access protected memory areas that should be accessed only by the Operating System kernel, and get sensitive data, like passwords, etc.

There are two problems with the fixes:

  1. They do not fix 100% of the problem, since it is related on how the CPUs were designed. So far, there is no 100% solution for the problem, and probably it will never exists.
  2. They impact badly in performance.

In a recent post to firebird-devel list, an user reported that the performance of the Firebird server dropped ~30% after he upgraded its Linux kernel to a version that “fix” those security flaws.

General reports over the internet shows that the most affected areas of the system are CPU, RAM and Disk, so any software that makes intensive use of some of those areas will probably have its performance significantly degraded.

Just to be clear: this performance loss doesn’t affect only Firebird, but any software!

Firebird 2.5.8 sub-release is available

Firebird Project is happy to announce general availability of Firebird 2.5.8 — the latest minor release in the Firebird 2.5 series.

This sub-release introduces several bug fixes and a few improvements, please refer to the Release Notes for the full list of changes. Binary kits for Windows and Linux on both 32-bit and 64-bit platforms are immediately available for download. Binary kits for Mac OS X will follow shortly.

Jaybird 3.0.3 and 2.2.14 released

The Firebird JDBC team is happy to announce the release of Jaybird 3.0.3 and Jaybird 2.2.14.

Jaybird 3.0.3 contains the following fixes and changes:

  • Fixed: Some older versions of JBoss would throw an java.lang.IllegalStateException: Can't overwrite cause when FBResourceException initialised its exception cause. (JDBC-512)
  • Improved: Added explicit Automatic-Module-Name: org.firebirdsql.jaybird to manifest for forwards compatibility with Java 9 modularization. (JDBC-511)

See the Jaybird 3.0.3 release notes for more information. Jaybird 3.0.3 can be downloaded from the JDBC Driver page.

Jaybird 2.2.14 contains the following fixes and changes:

  • Fixed: FBTraceManager.loadConfigurationFromFile strips line breaks (JDBC-493)
  • Improved: Added explicit Automatic-Module-Name: org.firebirdsql.jaybird to manifest for forwards compatibility with Java 9 modularization. (JDBC-511)

See the Jaybird 2.2.14 release notes for more information. Jaybird 2.2.14 can be downloaded from the JDBC Driver page.