Merry Christmas and Happy New Year 2025! And review of what happened in 2024 https://firebirdsql.org/en/community-news/merry-christmas-and-happy-new-year-2025-and-review-of-what-happened-in-2024

15 Firebird Antipatterns: https://firebirdsql.org/en/community-news/15-firebird-antipatterns

Firebird 5.0.2 Minor Release https://firebirdsql.org/en/news/firebird-5-0-2-minor-release-is-available

March 25, 2025 and April 8, 2025: Exclusive Webinars: Firebird SQL Performance on Windows and on Linux, Only for Firebird Supporters!

https://firebirdsql.org/en/community-news/exclusive-webinars-firebird-sql-performance-on-windows-and-on-linux

Entity Framework Core 9 provider for Firebird is ready https://www.tabsoverspaces.com/233947-entity-framework-core-9-provider-for-firebird-is-ready

I was recently playing around with AI and decided to put Claude to the test with our Firebird demo exam. Guess what? It passed!

Does this mean AI is coming for our DBA jobs? Not quite. While Claude handled the basics, it still hallucinates and makes mistakes that could cause serious database outages or data loss. Right now, it's probably at the level of a junior DBA at best.

I think AI will become an invaluable tool for Firebird developers in the future - not necessarily general-purpose AI like Claude or ChatGPT, but specialized models that are specifically trained for database management.

For those of us working as DBAs and developers, this is a good reminder to focus on developing deeper knowledge and understanding of how these technologies actually work under the hood.

By the way, we'll soon be offering a certification preparation program and online certification for all Firebird Supporters. Become a Supporter now (it's vital for FirebirdSQL funding and support) and get certified in the coming months!

View the video now: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8jvzWbLgu4E

BLOB revolution! https://firebirdsql.org/en/community-news/blob-revolution

"Data access methods used in Firebird" is a foundation document (88 pages!) for anyone serious about Firebird queries' performance. Just like important books that change how we think about technology, this article will change how you work with Firebird queries.

Created by author of Firebird documentation Denis Simonov and Firebird engine developer Dmitry Yemanov, this article explains complex concepts of Firebird optimization in clear language, with numerous examples and visual execution plans. https://firebirdsql.org/en/community-news/new-article-data-access-methods-used-in-firebird

EmberWings Magazine (March 2025 Issue)

This March 2025 issue of EmberWings, the quarterly magazine published by the Firebird Foundation, contains a rich variety of content focused on the Firebird database system. Here's a summary of the key articles and information:
Featured Articles of March Issue

1. Editorial: Firebird in the year of the Wood Snake - An introduction highlighting Firebird's upcoming 25th anniversary on July 31, 2025, reflecting on its evolution since being open-sourced from Borland's InterBase in 2000.

2. Wisdom of the elders - A philosophical piece presented as a conversation between a master and junior developer about proper database design and avoiding unnecessary abstractions like ORMs.

3. Why are some Firebird apps cursed? - A detailed technical article by Pavel Císař explaining common design flaws in Firebird applications, including misaligned abstractions, incorrect resource management, and artificial bottlenecks.

4. Interview with Jim Starkey - An in-depth interview with the creator of InterBase (Firebird's predecessor), covering his career in database development, his thoughts on Firebird's evolution, and his work on other database projects like Netfrastructure, Falcon, and NuoDB.

5. Development update: 2025/Q1 - Information about recent Firebird releases and development progress, including notes from the Release Planning Meeting and updates on Python drivers, .NET providers, and documentation.

6. Toolbox: DBWorkbench Lite - A review of Database Workbench Lite, a free database management tool specifically for Firebird.

7. Answers to your questions - Technical Q&A addressing specific Firebird-related questions from users.

8. Planet Firebird - News and updates from the Firebird community, including the Firebird Advent Calendar and a tribute to Helen Borrie, a key contributor who passed away on January 2, 2025.

9. The Firebird Butler Project - An extensive article about a project aiming to create a modular framework for Firebird database management, using ZeroMQ messaging to enable flexible integration of services.

10. "...And now for something completely different" - A fictional story titled "The Secret of the Firebird" about hidden features in the database codebase.

How to get EmberWings? Simply become Firebird supporter (to finance development of free FirebirdSQL database):

https://store.firebirdsql.org/p/firebird-associate-donation-eur/

LibreOffice Base and Firebird – a special relationship https://blog.documentfoundation.org/blog/2025/03/28/libreoffice-base-and-firebird-a-special-relationship/

Webinar about Firebird performance on Linux and digest of news Q1 2025

https://firebirdfoundation.substack.com/p/webinar-about-firebird-performance

Github Action : Setup FirebirdSQL updated to 2.0: What's Changed : migrated to official firebirdsql/firebird docker images

https://github.com/juarezr/firebirdsql-github-action/releases/tag/v2.0.0

Jaybird 6.0.1 and Jaybird 5.0.7 released : Both releases provide a number of performance improvements to blob handling, and some bug fixes. https://firebirdsql.org/en/news/jaybird-6-0-1-and-jaybird-5-0-7-released

New release of Firebird driver for Python V1.10.10 is available for download https://pypi.org/project/firebird-driver/1.10.10/ with a few changes https://firebird-driver.readthedocs.io/en/latest/changelog.html#version-1-10-10

Enhanced Model Context Protocol Implementation for Firebird Databases

MCP Firebird provides a robust interface between Firebird databases and AI models, enabling seamless integration with tools like Claude Desktop and other MCP-compatible clients.


https://www.firebirdnews.org/mcp-firebird-2-0-4-released-enhanced-model-context-protocol-implementation-for-firebird-databases/

Flamerobin 0.9.14 Snapshot released with a few fixes and features. https://www.firebirdnews.org/flamerobin-0-9-14-snapshot-released-with-a-few-fixes-and-features/

Firebird Windows ARM64 support : This pull request introduces support for Windows ARM64 builds to the Firebird project. The changes cover updates to build scripts, configuration files, and Visual Studio solution/project files to accommodate ARM64 architecture, ensuring compatibility and enabling compilation and functionality on Windows ARM64 platforms. https://github.com/FirebirdSQL/firebird/pull/8546

If anyone has Surface on ARM64 or similar, try it!

May 20, 2025: Firebird database recovery webinar, only for Firebird supporters

Date: Tuesday, May 20, 2025
Time: 14:00 CET (Central European Time)
Platform: Zoom
Access: Available to Firebird Supporters
Speaker: Alexey Kovyazin. CEO IBSurgeon

Attention Firebird Database Professionals:

Are you prepared for the worst-case scenario with your mission-critical Firebird databases? Join our in-depth technical webinar on Firebird Database Recovery and gain essential knowledge that could save your data—and potentially your career. https://firebirdsql.org/en/community-news/firebird-database-recovery-webinar-exclusive-content-for-firebird-supporters