Firebird vs Postgre and migration

What's the difference between Firebird and Postgre

General Overview

Feature	PostgreSQL	Firebird
Type	Advanced open-source relational DBMS	Lightweight open-source relational DBMS
Maturity	Very mature, widely used	Mature but niche
Popularity	High (used by major orgs like Apple, Spotify)	Lower (used in embedded systems, finance)
Community	Large, active	Smaller, specialized

2. Features

Feature	PostgreSQL	Firebird
ACID Compliance	Yes	Yes
MVCC (Multiversion)	Yes (very advanced)	Yes
Stored Procedures	PL/pgSQL and many other languages	PSQL (Firebird's procedural language)
JSON/JSONB Support	Yes (strong JSON support)	No native support
Full-Text Search	Built-in	Limited

3. Performance and Scalability

Aspect	PostgreSQL	Firebird
Concurrency	Excellent	Good but less scalable
Read Performance	High, tunable with indexes & caching	Fast for embedded/local workloads
Write Performance	Optimized with WAL, batching	Good for moderate workloads
Horizontal Scalability	Supports sharding (manually or tools)	Not designed for large-scale sharding

4. Tooling and Ecosystem

Feature	PostgreSQL	Firebird
GUI Tools	pgAdmin, DBeaver, DataGrip, etc.	FlameRobin, IBExpert, DBeaver
Backup/Restore	pg_dump, pg_basebackup	gbak, nbackup
Cloud Support	Widely supported (AWS, GCP, Azure)	Rare in managed services
Drivers	Extensive (JDBC, ODBC, Python, etc.)	Fewer, but adequate

🛡️ 5. Security and User Management

Feature	PostgreSQL	Firebird
Role-Based Access	Yes	Yes
SSL/TLS Support	Yes	Yes
Row-Level Security	Yes	No
Authentication Methods	Pluggable (MD5, SCRAM, LDAP, etc.)	Limited options

6. Use Cases

PostgreSQL:

Enterprise applications
Web apps with complex querying
GIS (with PostGIS)
Data warehousing

Firebird:

Embedded or small-to-medium desktop applications
Finance/accounting systems
Lightweight standalone deployments

Summary

Use PostgreSQL if...
You need a robust, feature-rich RDBMS
You require horizontal scaling or extensions
You work with JSON, analytics, or GIS data

Use Firebird if...
You need a small, embedded database
You prioritize simplicity and small footprint
You work in environments like accounting apps

2. How do you migrate firebird to postgre.

Migrating from Firebird to PostgreSQL involves several steps, as the two databases have different architectures, SQL dialects, data types, and procedural languages. Here’s a general guide to help you through the process:

1. Schema Conversion

Extract the schema from Firebird using tools like isql or a GUI like FlameRobin:
```
isql -x your_database.fdb > firebird_schema.sql
```
Manually adjust the schema:
- Change Firebird-specific data types (e.g., BLOB SUB_TYPE TEXT, VARCHAR(n) CHARACTER SET UNICODE_FSS) to PostgreSQL equivalents (TEXT, VARCHAR(n) with UTF8).
- Replace generators with PostgreSQL sequences or SERIAL/IDENTITY columns.
- Rewrite triggers used for autoincrement fields to PostgreSQL DEFAULT nextval(...).

2. Data Export

Export data from Firebird tables using:
- isql + OUTFILE, or
- third-party tools like IBExpert, FBExport, or Firebird ODBC driver with tools like DBeaver.
Prefer CSV or SQL insert statements for portability.

3. Data Import into PostgreSQL

Use COPY or \COPY in psql:


\COPY tablename FROM 'data.csv' DELIMITER ',' CSV HEADER;
Or use INSERT statements with proper syntax adaptation.

4. Business Logic Migration

Convert Firebird stored procedures, triggers, and views:
- Rewrite in PL/pgSQL, adapting control flow, variables, and exception handling.
- PostgreSQL uses LANGUAGE plpgsql, which differs from Firebird’s PSQL.

5. Testing & Validation

Validate data consistency (record counts, spot checks).
Run application queries to ensure functional correctness.
Benchmark performance.

Tools That Can Help

DBeaver – good for cross-DB connections and visual migration.
SQL Workbench/J – can connect via JDBC to both DBs.
Firebird2PostgreSQL (from SQL Maestro or other vendors) – automated migration tools.
FBExport – fast command-line tool for exporting data.

A passionate code Guru