1.1.1 Maven

<dependency>
    <groupId>org.firebirdsql.jdbc</groupId>
    <artifactId>jaybird-jdk18</artifactId>
    <version>3.0.5</version>
</dependency>

<dependency>
    <groupId>org.firebirdsql.jdbc</groupId>
    <artifactId>jaybird-jdk18</artifactId>
    <version>3.0.5</version>
    <exclusions>
        <exclusion>
            <groupId>javax.resource</groupId>
            <artifactId>connector-api</artifactId>
        </exclusion>
    </exclusions>
</dependency>
<dependency>
    <groupId>javax.resource</groupId>
    <artifactId>connector-api</artifactId>
    <version>1.5</version>
    <scope>provided</scope>
</dependency>

<dependency>
    <groupId>net.java.dev.jna</groupId>
    <artifactId>jna</artifactId>
</dependency>

<dependency>
    <groupId>org.firebirdsql.jdbc</groupId>
    <artifactId>jaybird-jdk18</artifactId>
    <version>2.2.14</version>
</dependency>

1.1.2 Download

Firebird can be downloaded from the Firebird website, under Downloads, JDBC Driver.

Alternatively, you can go directly to GitHub and download Jaybird from the jaybird releases.

1.3.1 Which version of the LGPL applies?

Current releases of Jaybird do not explicitly specify an LGPL version. This means that you can choose which version applies. Future versions of Jaybird may specify an explicit version, or be released under a different license.

1.4.1 What is the Java 9 module name for Jaybird?

Jaybird itself is not (yet) modularized. To ensure a stable module name, Jaybird, since 2.2.14 and 3.0.3, declares the automatic module name org.firebirdsql.jaybird.

3.1.1 Pure Java (default)

Default URL format:

jdbc:firebirdsql://host[:port]/<database>

This will connect to the database using the Type 4 JDBC driver using the Java implementation of the Firebird wire-protocol. This is best suited for client-server applications with dedicated database server. Port can be omitted (default value is 3050), host name must be present.

The <host> part is either the hostname, the IPv4 address, or the IPv6 address in brackets (eg [::1]). Use of IPv6 address literals is only supported in Jaybird 3 or newer with Firebird 3 or newer.

The <database> part should be replaced with the database alias or the path to the database. In general it is advisable to use database aliases instead of the path of the database file as it hides implementation details like file locations and OS type.

On Linux the root / should be included in the path. A database located on /opt/firebird/db.fdb should use (note the double slash after port!):

jdbc:firebirdsql://host:port//opt/firebird/db.fdb

Deprecated, but still supported legacy URL format:

jdbc:firebirdsql:host[/port]:<database>

The legacy URL format does not support IPv6 address literals.

3.1.2 Open Office/Libre Office (Pure Java)

Jaybird can be used together with OpenOffice and Libre Office Base. To address some compatibility issues (and differences in interpretation of JDBC specifications) a separate subprotocol is used:

jdbc:firebirdsql:oo://host[:port]/<database>

3.1.3 Native (using Firebird client library)

Default URL format:

jdbc:firebirdsql:native://host[:port]/<database>

Legacy URL format:

jdbc:firebirdsql:native:host[/port]:<database>

Type 2 driver, will connect to the database using client library (fbclient.dll on Windows, and libfbclient.so on Linux). Requires correct installation of the client library and - for Jaybird 2.2 or earlier - the Jaybird native library, or - for Jaybird 3.0 - the JNA jar file.

jdbc:firebirdsql:local:<database>

Type 2 driver in local mode. Uses client library as in previous case, however will not use socket communication, but rather access database directly. Requires correct installation of the client library and - for Jaybird 2.2 or earlier - the Jaybird native library, or - for Jaybird 3.0 - the JNA jar file.

3.1.4 Embedded Server

jdbc:firebirdsql:embedded:<database>

Similar to the Firebird client library, however fbembed.dll on Windows and libfbembed.so on Linux are used. Requires correctly installed and configured Firebird embedded library and - for Jaybird 2.2 or earlier - the Jaybird native library, or - for Jaybird 3.0 - the JNA jar file.

3.2.1 How can I specify the connection character set?

Jaybird provides two connection properties to specify the connection character set:

• charSet with a Java character set name (alias: localEncoding)

  The Java character set name must map to an equivalent Firebird character set.

• encoding with a Firebird character set name (alias: lc_ctype)

  The Firebird character set name - with the exception of NONE must map to an equivalent Java character set.

For most applications, use only one of these two properties.

For special situations it is possible to specify both charSet and encoding to convert/reinterpret a character set into another character set, this is usually only necessary to fix data problems.

To phrase differently:

• encoding=<firebird charset>: use connection encoding <firebird charset> and interpret in the equivalent Java character set

• charSet=<java charset>: use Firebird equivalent of <java charset> as connection encoding and interpret in

• encoding=<firebird charset>&charSet=<java charset>: use connection encoding <firebird charset>, but interpret in <java charset>

The handling of Firebird character set NONE is slightly different, see below.

3.2.2 How does character set NONE work?

The Firebird character set NONE is a special case, it essentially means “no character set”. You can store anything in it, but conversions to or from this character set are not defined.

Using character set NONE can result in incorrect character set handling when the database is used from different locales.

When used as a connection character set, Jaybird handles NONE as follows:

3.2.3 What happens if no connection character set is specified?

When no character set has been specified explicitly, Jaybird 2.2 and earlier, and Jaybird 3.0.2 and higher default to connection character set NONE. See How does character set NONE work? for details on character set NONE.

Jaybird 3.0.0 and 3.0.1, however, will reject the connection, see How can I solve the error “Connection rejected: No connection character set specified”.

In Jaybird 3 it is possible to override the default connection character set by specifying system property org.firebirdsql.jdbc.defaultConnectionEncoding with a valid Firebird character set name.

Jaybird 3.0.2 introduces the system property org.firebirdsql.jdbc.requireConnectionEncoding, which - when set to true - will reject connections without a character set (which was the default behavior in Jaybird 3.0.0 and 3.0.1).

3.2.4 How can I solve the error “Connection rejected: No connection character set specified”

If no character set has been set, Jaybird 3.0 will reject the connection with an SQLNonTransientConnectionException with message “Connection rejected: No connection character set specified (property lc_ctype, encoding, charSet or localEncoding). Please specify a connection character set (eg property charSet=utf-8) or consult the Jaybird documentation for more information.”

In Jaybird 3.0.0 and 3.0.1 this error will be thrown if the character set has not been set explicitly. In Jaybird 3.0.2 and higher this error will only be thrown if system property org.firebirdsql.jdbc.requireConnectionEncoding has been set to true.

To address this error, you can set the default connection character set using one of the following options:

• Use connection property encoding (alias: lc_ctype) with a Firebird character set name.

  Use encoding=NONE for the default behavior (with some caveats, see How does character set NONE work?).

• Use connection property charSet (alias: localEncoding) with a Java character set name.

• Use a combination of encoding and charSet, if you want to reinterpret a Firebird character set in a Java character set other than the default mapping.

• By providing a default Firebird character set with system property org.firebirdsql.jdbc.defaultConnectionEncoding. Jaybird will apply the specified character set as the default when no character set is specified in the connection properties.

  This property only supports Firebird character set names.

  Use -Dorg.firebirdsql.jdbc.defaultConnectionEncoding=NONE to revert to the default behavior (with some caveats, see How does character set NONE work?). With Jaybird 3.0.2 or higher, it is better to just not set system property org.firebirdsql.jdbc.requireConnectionEncoding if you want to apply NONE.

3.4.1 Your user name and password are not defined. Ask your database administrator to set up a Firebird login. (335544472)

This error means that the user does not exist, or that the specified password is not correct.

When connecting to Firebird 3 and higher, this error can also mean that the user does exist (with that password), but not for the authentication plugins tried for this connection.

For example, Jaybird 2.2.x and earlier only support legacy authentication, if you try to login as a user created for SRP authentication, you will get the same error.

3.4.2 Incompatible wire encryption levels requested on client and server (335545064)

With Jaybird 3.0.0 - 3.0.3 connecting to Firebird 3 or higher, this usually means that the setting WireCrypt is set to its (default) value of Required.

Upgrade to Jaybird 3.0.4 or higher, or relax this setting (in firebird.conf) to WireCrypt = Enabled.

See also Jaybird Wiki - Jaybird and Firebird 3

With Jaybird 3.0.4 or higher, or Jaybird 4, this error means that you have requested a connection with a mismatch in encryption settings. For example, you specified connection property wireCrypt=required while Firebird is set to WireCrypt = Disabled (or vice versa).

3.4.3 connection rejected by remote interface (335544421)

In general this error means that Jaybird requested a connection with properties not supported by Firebird. It can have other causes than described below.

With Jaybird 2.2.x connecting to Firebird 3 or higher, this usually means that the setting WireCrypt is set to its (default) value of Required.

Relax this setting (in firebird.conf) to WireCrypt = Enabled.

See also Jaybird Wiki - Jaybird and Firebird 3

Make sure you check the other settings mentioned in that article, otherwise you’ll get the next error.

3.4.4 Error occurred during login, please check server firebird.log for details (335545106)

If the logging contains something like

SERVER  Sat Oct 28 10:07:26 2017
    Authentication error
    No matching plugins on server

with Jaybird 2.2.x connecting to Firebird 3 or higher, this means that the setting AuthServer does not include the Legacy_Auth plugin.

Enable Legacy_Auth (in firebird.conf) by adding this value to the property AuthServer, for example: AuthServer = Srp, Legacy_Auth.

With Jaybird 4 and higher this can also mean that none of the default authentication plugins or those specified using connection property authPlugins, are listed in the AuthServer setting. Either revise the Firebird configuration, or explicitly configure connection property authPlugins with authentication plugins that are configured in Firebird.

You also need to make sure your user is created with the legacy user manager, see Jaybird Wiki - Jaybird and Firebird 3 for details.

3.4.5 Encryption key did not meet algorithm requirements of Symmetric/Arc4 (337248282)

If the exception cause is java.security.InvalidKeyException: Illegal key size or default parameters, this means that your Java install applies a security policy that does not allow ARCFOUR with a 160 bit encryption key.

If wireCrypt=ENABLED (the default), this is just logged as a warning. The connection will succeed, but it does mean that the connection will not be encrypted. If wireCrypt=REQUIRED, this is thrown as an exception, and the connection will fail.

This could indicate that your Java version applies the limited strength Cryptographic Jurisdiction Policy (this was the default in Java 8 Update 152 and earlier), or has been explicitly configured to apply the limited policy, or has a custom security policy to restrict the cryptographic key size.

Solutions and workarounds:

• Apply the unlimited Cryptographic Jurisdiction Policy, see this Stack Overflow answer
• Relax your custom security policy to allow 160 bit keys for ARCFOUR
• Disable wire encryption for Firebird by setting WireCrypt = Disabled in firebird.conf
• Set wireCrypt=DISABLED in the connection properties

Be aware that the first two options may have legal implications depending on the local law in your country regarding cryptography.