The Perfect Database Server: Firebird 2.5 And FreeBSD 8.1

Here is the guide on installing Firebird 2.5 from FreeBSD 8.1 Ports and creating your first test database; also we show you how to install Flamerobin GUI (administration tool) and the PHP driver for it. This was tested on fresh FreeBSD 8.1 on a virtual machine.

Download a compressed snapshot of the Ports Collection into /var/db/portsnap.

# portsnap fetch

Or update it. If you are running Portsnap for the first time, extract the snapshot into /usr/ports:

# portsnap extract

If you already have a populated /usr/ports directory and you are just updating, run the following command instead:

# portsnap update

Enter firebird server ports directory:

# cd /usr/ports/firebird25-server

Compile and install firebird server:

# make -DPACKAGE_BUILDING
# make install

Enable it by adding

firebird_enable="YES"

in /etc/rc.conf.

Start it with:

# /usr/local/etc/rc.d/firebird start

logs and security2.fdb seems to be in /var/db/firebird.

# /usr/local/bin/isql-fb

To create a new database:

SQL> create database "tmp/first_database.fdb;
SQL> connect "/tmp/first_database.fdb" ;
Commit current transaction (y/n)?y
Committing.
Database: "/tmp/first_database.fdb"
SQL>

If you want to create a simple table then insert 1-2 rows and select from it; here is one example:

SQL> CREATE TABLE TEST (ID INT NOT NULL PRIMARY KEY, NAME VARCHAR(20));
SQL> show tables;
TEST
SQL> INSERT INTO TEST VALUES (1, 'John');
SQL> INSERT INTO TEST VALUES (2, 'Joe');
SQL> select * from test;
ID NAME
============ ====================
1 John
2 Joe

To quit the isql-fb console, type quit:

SQL> quit
CON>;

For a good open source GUI admin tool you might check the flamerobin administration tool included in ports repository; it can be installed by a simple:

# cd /usr/ports/databases/flamerobin/ && make install clean

To use firebird with php, you will need the php5 driver:

# cd /usr/ports/databases/php5-interbase/ && make install clean

You can choose to compile php with apache support (I have chosen cli, cgi , and apache support); check it if is enabled with:

# /usr/local/bin/php -m

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