Setting up Firebird on Ubuntu Linux

Rodney Gedda

Marius Popa

10 June 2009 – Document version 2.0

Table of Contents

Setting up Firebird on Ubuntu Linux
A. Document history
B. License notice

Setting up Firebird on Ubuntu Linux

This article describes the process of installing and running Firebird on Ubuntu Linux. Like the Debian GNU/Linux distribution it is based on, installing software with Ubuntu (or Kubuntu) is very straightforward and Firebird is no exception. This guide is based on Ubuntu 9.04 “Jaunty Jackalope”.

The version of Firebird packaged with Ubuntu “Jaunty Jackalope” is 2.1.1 but there is an repository with ppa final stable 2.1.2, Also in Ubuntu Karmic v2.1.2 is included by default

With administrator privileges on the target machine, issue the following command:

# apt-get install firebird2.1-super

Apt's dependency tracking will automatically propose all the packages required for a complete installation with the following output:

The following extra packages will be installed:
  firebird2.1-common firebird2.1-server-common libedit2 libfbclient2 libicu38
Suggested packages:
  firebird2.1-doc
The following NEW packages will be installed:
  firebird2.1-common firebird2.1-server-common firebird2.1-super libedit2 libfbclient2 libicu38
0 upgraded, 6 newly installed, 0 to remove and 1 not upgraded.
Need to get 11.7MB of archives.
After unpacking 28.4MB of additional disk space will be used.
Do you want to continue [Y/n]? y

The packages will then download and install on the target machine, a new user “firebird” will be created to run the server, and the server will be started immediately:

Setting up firebird2-super-server (1.5.3.4870-10) ...
Created default security.fdb
Starting Firebird server: server has been successfully started

You will then be asked to enter a new password for the SYSDBA user, spelling mistake included:

# dpkg-reconfigure firebird2.1-super

You will then be returned to a shell prompt with the following output, that's it!

GSEC> GSEC>

If you're a seasoned Unix person, but new to Ubuntu, you might be wondering where all the Firebird files are residing in the directory hierarchy. To see where all the files were installed by Apt, simply do:

# dpkg -L firebird2.1-super

/.
/etc
/etc/init.d
/etc/init.d/firebird2.1-super
/etc/default
/etc/default/firebird2.1-super
/usr
/usr/share
/usr/share/doc
/usr/share/lintian
/usr/share/lintian/overrides
/usr/share/lintian/overrides/firebird2.1-super
/usr/bin
/usr/bin/nbackup
/usr/bin/qli
/usr/bin/gbak
/usr/bin/gfix
/usr/bin/gpre
/usr/bin/isql-fb
/usr/bin/gsec
/usr/bin/fbstat
/usr/bin/gdef
/usr/lib
/usr/lib/firebird
/usr/lib/firebird/2.1
/usr/lib/firebird/2.1/bin
/usr/lib/firebird/2.1/bin/fbmgr
/usr/lib/firebird/2.1/bin/fbmgr.bin
/usr/lib/firebird/2.1/bin/fb_lock_print
/usr/lib/firebird/2.1/bin/fbguard
/usr/lib/firebird/2.1/bin/fbserver
/usr/lib/firebird/2.1/UDF
/usr/lib/firebird/2.1/UDF/fbudf.so
/usr/lib/firebird/2.1/UDF/ib_udf.so
/usr/share/doc/firebird2.1-super

As mentioned, a new user “firebird” is created on the target machine. With administrator access, set a password for this new user:

# passwd firebird
Enter new UNIX password:
Retype new UNIX password:

Now you can switch to the firebird user with the su command if required.

Install the examples and dev files

# apt-get install firebird2.1-examples firebird2.1-dev

The employee.fdb archive will be under this dir /usr/share/doc/firebird2.1-examples/examples/empbuild/

# cd /usr/share/doc/firebird2.1-examples/examples/empbuild/
sudo gunzip employee.fdb.gz
sudo chown firebird.firebird employee.fdb
sudo mv employee.fdb /var/lib/firebird/2.1/data/

connect to db

isql-fb

SQL> connect "/var/lib/firebird/2.1/data/employee.fdb " user 'SYSDBA' password 'SYSDBApassword';

Now you can check the server version and the tables

    SQL> show tables;
       COUNTRY                                CUSTOMER
       DEPARTMENT                             EMPLOYEE
       EMPLOYEE_PROJECT                       JOB
       PROJECT                                PROJ_DEPT_BUDGET
       SALARY_HISTORY                         SALES

SQL> show version;
SQL> quit
CON>;

For an GUI admin tool you might check the flamerobin administration tool included in ubuntu repository can be installed by an simple

# apt-get install flamerobin

While you're at it, install the utilities package:

This will give you an interactive shell, and backup and reporting tools among others. Now you can test your Firebird installation by connecting to an example database. Decompress the example “employee.fdb” database:

# gunzip
# /usr/share/doc/firebird2-examples/examples/employee.fdb.gz

Fire up the interactive shell.

# isql-fb

At the SQL> prompt, connect to the database with:

SQL> connect "employee.fdb" user 'SYSDBA' password 'SYSDBApassword';

If you get an error message like “Statement failed, SQLCODE = -551 no permission for read-write access to database /usr/share/doc/firebird2-examples/examples/employee.fdb”, then the server process doesn't have read or write access to the database file. Change the ownership of the database to the user firebird with:

# chown firebird:firebird employee.fdb

When you manage to successfully connect to the database you will see the message:

Database:  "employee.fdb", User: SYSDBA

Now, from the SQL> prompt, feel free to browse around the employee database:

SQL> show tables;
COUNTRY                    CUSTOMER
DEPARTMENT                 EMPLOYEE
EMPLOYEE_PROJECT           JOB
PHONE_LIST                 PROJECT
PROJ_DEPT_BUDGET           SALARY_HISTORY
SALES

If you've made it this far your Firebird installation on Ubuntu has been a success. Have a nice day!