New Features in Firebird 1.5

Enhancement to Named Constraints

Indexes that enforce named integrity constraints may now be named with user-defined identifiers.

Caution

If you use this feature, your database will not be downgradable to v.1.0.x or InterBase®.

Maximum Indexes per Table Increased

Now-in both Release 1.0 and this release-the maximum number of indexes you can define for a table has been increased from 64 to 256.

Pessimistic Locking

For the rare times when you need to impose a pessimistic lock, this release adds syntax to place a “reader's lock” on rows as they are output to the client. Use with care.

Security Database Connection Caching

Connection to the security database is cached in Superserver builds. It means that security.fdb is loaded when the first connection is made and stays attached until all client connections are gone.

Error-reporting Improvements

Where possible, error messages report the cause of SQL errors at a more detailed level. It is IMPORTANT to note that you will encounter bizarre messages if you use an old interbase.msg or firebird.msg file.

Services API on Classic for Linux

Limited support for the Services API is now available on Classic server on Linux. Services available from gbak (backup/restore) and gfix (validate database, shutdown/online, etc.) work. Others (gstat, server logs, etc.) were not tested and are probably non-functional.

Changes in the Client Libraries

Windows clients

The client library is now named “fbclient.dll”. All server utilities (gbak, gfix, etc) use only the client library fbclient.dll. Connect new applications to fbclient.dll, without requiring gds32.dll ( recommended).

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