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<p class="western">
TLTR. Propose <span lang="en-US">Take Firebird out of
experimental
mode </span><span lang="en-US">and explain author’s opinion
about
current situation of Firebird implementation, and the benefits </span><span
lang="en-US">of
put it in service.</span></p>
<h3 class="western">Background</h3>
<p class="western">Base is undoubtedly the ugly duckling of
LibreOffice.</p>
<p class="western">The reasons why, in my opinion Base is not more
used are</p>
<ul>
<li>
<p class="western">The only type of embedded databases that the
normal user sees when he wants to create a database is HSQLDB.
Since the days of OpenOffice, these databases have a
reputation for being slow, and, more importantly, for
corrupting data, rendering the database unusable.</p>
</li>
<li>
<p class="western">Databases are less and less used in small
businesses and households, having been replaced by “databases”
made in spreadsheets.</p>
</li>
<li>
<p class="western">Databases appear to be very difficult to
understand for a normal user.</p>
</li>
<li>
<p class="western">User interface is somewhat outdated</p>
</li>
<li>
<p class="western">Base does not provide some facilities that
other more popular DBMSs do.</p>
</li>
</ul>
<h3 class="western">Firebird implementation. Back to experimental
mode</h3>
<p class="western">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.</p>
<p class="western">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.</p>
<p class="western">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.</p>
<p class="western">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hidden from most potential Base users, who only see the outdated,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.</p>
<h3 class="western">Current status of Firebird implementation</h3>
<p class="western"><span lang="en-US">According to <a
href="https://bugs.documentfoundation.org/show_bug.cgi?id=51780">TDF#51780</a> </span><em><span
lang="en-US">(Database-Firebird-Default)
- [META] Default to Firebird not HSQLDB in Base (for
new_files)</span></em><span lang="en-US">,
there currently do not appear to be any bugs that actually
affect the
functionality of the Firebird database engine.</span></p>
<p class="western"><span lang="en-US">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.
<a
href="https://bugs.documentfoundation.org/show_bug.cgi?id=151344">TDF#151344</a>,
<a
href="https://bugs.documentfoundation.org/show_bug.cgi?id=148266">TDF#148266</a> o
<a
href="https://bugs.documentfoundation.org/show_bug.cgi?id=148663">TDF#148663</a>),
others are errors which also exist in other databases (</span><span
lang="en-US">e.g.</span><span lang="en-US">
<a
href="https://bugs.documentfoundation.org/show_bug.cgi?id=144256">TDF#144256</a>),
and finally, others are lack of understanding of how Firebird
works
or how it is configured (e.g. <a
href="https://bugs.documentfoundation.org/show_bug.cgi?id=135616">TDF#135616</a>).</span></p>
<h3 class="western">HSQLDB Migration</h3>
<p class="western"><span lang="en-US">According to </span><a
href="https://bugs.documentfoundation.org/show_bug.cgi?id=116968"><span
lang="en-US">TDF#116968</span></a><span lang="en-US"> </span><em><span
lang="en-US">(Database-Firebird-Migration)
- [META] Migrating existing embedded HSQLDB databases to
Firebird</span></em><span lang="en-US">,</span><span
lang="en-US">
</span><span lang="en-US">t</span><span lang="en-US">here 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.</span></p>
<p class="western">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.</p>
<h3 class="western">Proposal</h3>
<p class="western">In considering the above, I propose to the ESC
(or
whomever it may concern):</p>
<ul>
<li>
<p class="western">Take Firebird out of experimental mode.
Although it is not strictly necessary for it to be the default
database, I think it would be preferable.</p>
</li>
<li>
<p class="western">Decouple HSQLDB migration from the existence
or not of Firebird.</p>
</li>
<li>
<p class="western">Support and promote the use of Base as well
as assist the development of Base into a reliable and modern
database (support this long overdue bidding process).</p>
</li>
</ul>
<p class="western">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.</p>
<p class="western">Regards<br>
</p>
<p></p>
<div class="moz-signature">-- <br>
<font color="#2a6099"><font face="Liberation Sans, sans-serif"><font
size="3" style="font-size: 12pt"><b>Juan C. Sanz</b></font></font></font></div>
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