Help Us Test the New Firebird Docker Images

Major Update: Help Us Test the New Firebird Docker Images

We have been working on a significant overhaul of the official firebird-docker images, and a pre-release version is now available for testing at:

Pre-release Container Registry

We would love to get feedback from the community before these changes are merged upstream.

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What’s New

Firebird 6 Snapshot Images

The new images include a 6-snapshot tag built daily from the master branch of FirebirdSQL/firebird. This is the first time a Firebird 6 development snapshot has been available as a Docker image.

# Pull the latest Firebird 6 development snapshot
docker pull ghcr.io/fdcastel/firebird:6-snapshot

# Pull the latest Firebird 5 patch snapshot
docker pull ghcr.io/fdcastel/firebird:5-snapshot

Snapshot images are rebuilt daily, so you always get the latest development build.

Expanded Version Coverage

The image matrix has been significantly expanded to cover more versions and distributions:

• Firebird 3.x: 3.0.8 through 3.0.13 (amd64 only; bookworm, bullseye, jammy)
• Firebird 4.x: 4.0.0 through 4.0.6 (amd64; bookworm, bullseye, jammy, noble)
• Firebird 5.x: 5.0.0 through 5.0.3 (amd64 + arm64; bookworm, bullseye, jammy, noble)
• Firebird 6 snapshot: Daily build from master (amd64 + arm64)
• Firebird 5 snapshot: Daily build from v5.0-release (amd64 + arm64)

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How to Test

Pull the images directly from our pre-release registry to see how they perform in your environment:

# Latest stable (Firebird 5.0.3 on bookworm)
docker pull ghcr.io/fdcastel/firebird:latest

# Firebird 6 development snapshot ← Most wanted testers here!
docker pull ghcr.io/fdcastel/firebird:6-snapshot

# A specific version + distro
docker pull ghcr.io/fdcastel/firebird:5.0.3-jammy
docker pull ghcr.io/fdcastel/firebird:4.0.6-bookworm

We are especially looking for feedback on:

• Starting a container and connecting via isql or your preferred driver.
• ARM64 performance if you have compatible hardware (M-series Macs, Ampere, etc.).
• Firebird 6 snapshot behavior: Any connection issues, startup errors, or unexpected behavior changes.

⚠️ Important: Pre-Release Notice

These images have not yet been merged into the official repository and may contain bugs. The Firebird 6 snapshot, in particular, is built from unreleased, in-development code.

Warning: Do not use pre-release or snapshot images in production environments. Snapshot tags (6-snapshot, 5-snapshot) are rebuilt daily and do not carry stability guarantees.

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Feedback

Your input is vital to making these images solid before the official merge. Please report any issues, successful test results, or suggestions at the upstream pull request:

🔗 GitHub Pull Request #36

Whether it’s a simple "works great on my ARM64 machine" or a detailed bug report, all feedback is welcome.

Thank you for helping us improve the Firebird ecosystem!

— F.D. Castel

FlameRobin 0.9.16 released

FlameRobin 0.9.16 released focuses on: modernizing CI/build tooling fixing compiler/linker issues , improving packaging (Flatpak), and delivering a set of Firebird metadata/DDL extraction and SQL editor correctness improvements

https://github.com/mariuz/flamerobin/releases/tag/0.9.16

PSFirebird: PowerShell Automation for Firebird on Windows and Linux

PSFirebird is a PowerShell module focused on automating Firebird environments, databases, and common administrative workflows. The main goal is to make Firebird easier to script end-to-end without depending on a manual installer flow or a machine-specific setup.

The problem is trying to solve was simple: working with Firebird in automation often means mixing shell scripts, ad hoc local installs, version-specific quirks, and CI setup glue. That gets especially painful when you need to test multiple Firebird versions, rehearse upgrades, or spin up disposable databases for integration tests. PSFirebird is designed to reduce that friction.

What PSFirebird Does

Today the module can:

• Download official Firebird release assets and prepare portable environments
• Run multiple Firebird versions side by side
• Create, inspect, read, test, and remove databases
• Execute SQL through isql from PowerShell
• Read and update firebird.conf
• Start ad hoc Firebird instances
• Register Firebird as a Windows service or Linux systemd service
• Backup and restore databases
• Convert databases across Firebird versions with streaming backup/restore
• Lock and unlock databases for filesystem-level copy using nbackup
• Parse gstat output into structured PowerShell objects for tables and indices

The current codebase targets PowerShell 7.4+ on Windows and Linux. On Linux, the environment bootstrap currently targets Debian-based systems.

Why I Think This is Useful

PSFirebird is not meant to be another GUI admin tool. It is aimed at repeatable automation.

Some scenarios where it should be useful:

• CI/CD pipelines that need a Firebird server on demand
• Test matrices that need Firebird 3.x, 4.x, and 5.x side by side
• Upgrade rehearsals from older databases to newer engine versions
• Disposable local environments for development and debugging
• Scripting routine admin tasks instead of doing everything manually

One of the most useful parts for me is the ability to create isolated Firebird environments directly from PowerShell, then run the rest of the workflow against that environment in a predictable way.

This project builds on earlier work I’ve done across several Firebird community initiatives such as SqlAlchemy-Firebird, the Firebird .NET Provider, the Firebird ODBC Driver, and the Python driver. Across all of these efforts, maintaining a robust and consistently repeatable testing foundation has been essential.

Example

Here is a small example that prepares two Firebird versions and converts a database from one environment to another:

$tempPath = [System.IO.Path]::GetTempPath()
$fb3 = New-FirebirdEnvironment -Version '3.0.12' -Path (Join-Path $tempPath 'fb3')
$fb5 = New-FirebirdEnvironment -Version '5.0.3' -Path (Join-Path $tempPath 'fb5')
$sourcePath = Join-Path $tempPath 'legacy.fdb'
$targetPath = Join-Path $tempPath 'legacy.fb50.fdb'

$db = New-FirebirdDatabase -Database $sourcePath -Environment $fb3 -Force

$env:ISC_USER = 'SYSDBA'
$env:ISC_PASSWORD = 'masterkey'
Convert-FirebirdDatabase -SourceDatabase $db -SourceEnvironment $fb3 -TargetDatabase $targetPath -TargetEnvironment $fb5 -Force

The module also includes helpers for scoped environment usage, configuration editing, SQL execution, service management, and database statistics collection.

Project Status

This is a real automation-oriented codebase, not just a thin proof of concept. The repository already includes:

• Unit tests
• Integration tests
• Cross-version conversion tests
• Windows and Linux CI coverage
• A GitHub Actions example showing end-to-end module usage in a workflow

Feedback Wanted

If you work with Firebird, I would especially like feedback on:

• Missing administrative workflows
• Cross-platform behavior and Linux packaging assumptions
• Upgrade and migration scenarios
• Command naming and module ergonomics
• CI and testing use cases

GitHub repository: https://github.com/fdcastel/PSFirebird

If this looks useful for your environment, take a look and let us know what would make it more practical for real-world Firebird automation.