New Google Test Suite Added to Firebird ODBC Driver

A major update has been merged into the FirebirdSQL/firebird-odbc-driver repository (PR #276), introducing a comprehensive Google Test suite to establish a strong regression testing baseline for the project. Authored by fdcastel, this addition is a crucial stepping stone before making future bug fixes or CI/CD improvements.

Key Highlights:

  • Extensive Coverage: The PR adds a massive suite of 375 tests across 38 test suites, designed to exercise the Firebird ODBC driver directly through the standard ODBC API via the Driver Manager.
  • Baseline Establishment: No driver source code was modified in this update. The goal is strictly to document what the current driver can do and precisely identify where improvements are needed.
  • Pass vs. Skip Strategy: Out of the box, 230 tests pass, confirming that core features like data types, parameter binding, and catalog functions work correctly. The remaining 145 tests are skipped gracefully, each serving as a documented placeholder for known gaps or missing features (like ODBC 3.8 compliance and specific crash fixes).
  • Future-Proofing: This sets up a perfect “regression gate.” As future patches and bug fixes are submitted, developers can simply remove the SKIP markers to activate the corresponding tests, proving that the fix works and preventing regressions.
  • Standalone CMake Integration: The tests are housed in a self-contained CMake project that fetches Google Test, paving the way for easier integration into a future root CMake build.

This foundational work makes contributing to the Firebird ODBC Driver significantly safer and more measurable going forward!

Flashback: 25 years of Firebird

In 2025, Firebird celebrated 25 years of development. We want to share 25 years of stories, memories, trivia, the ups and downs and major achievements in a livestream (in Portuguese) on February 5th at 7:30 PM (GMT -3). The event will feature Carlos Cantu, Alexandre Benson Smith and Artur Anjos.

Did you know that Ann Harrison, married to Jim Starkey (creator of InterBase/Firebird) and known as the “Mother of Firebird,” once received death threats because of FB? This is just one of the many curious stories we’ll share during our flashback.

Grab your beer, wine, coffee, juice, or whatever you prefer to drink, and join us for a fun flashback filled with behind-the-scenes info that most of you probably don’t know!

Join us on YouTube on February 5 at 7:30 PM (GMT -3)!

TurboBird for FireBird 5  

A new TurboBird fork is released with Firebird5 features

New and Improved Features

Dynamic Firebird Data Type Handling
– All Firebird data types are now loaded dynamically at runtime, making TurboBird largely version-independent.

Package Support
– You can now create and edit Firebird packages directly within TurboBird.

UDR Support (User Defined Routines)
– TurboBird can now create, edit, and execute user-defined routines (UDRs), including parameters and results.

Unified Routine Runner
A single routine runner now supports:

– UDFs
– UDRs
– Stored Procedures
– Functions

New releases are here
https://github.com/mdadali/TurboBird/releases

Also you can find the changelog in the tagged release
https://github.com/mdadali/TurboBird/releases/tag/TurboBird_v1.2.1.1262

IBX for Lazarus 2.7.8 is now available for download

MWA Software is pleased to announce the release of version 2.7.8 of IBX for Lazarus. This release is a bug fix release fixing several minor bugs – see changelog for details. The resolved issues apply to the design time editors. All users are recommended to upgrade to this version.

In this release:

  1. Fixed corruption in idmodifysqleditor.lfm. Using this editor should no longer
    result in an access violation.
  2. Design Time SQL Editors: Table Names are now shown in alphabetical order.
  3. IBSQL Editor: changing the “Use System Tables” checkbox should now refresh table list.
  4. Design Time Editors: Replaced embedded SQL Literals with constants
  5. Allow for alternative all upper case SQL literals or first letter UC only.
    Selected by defining the symbol GENERATE_SQL_ALL_UPPERCASE in design/IBSQLEditFrame.pas
    or in the Custom Options for dclibx.
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