Berkeley DB Update Supports Android, Includes New SQL API
At EclipseCon, Oracle announced the next version of their free and open source embedded database, Berkeley DB, which has now reached version "11g Release 2". The high-performance Berkeley DB is now in line with the Oracle's server database, which is also at 11g release 2. The new version of Berkeley DB (available March 31st) features a new SQL API and introduces support for Android.
SQL API
The new SQL API is based on SQLite, which operates in the background of Mac OS X and Adobe Lightroom, for example. All of the tools that work with SQLite will also work with Berkeley DB, Oracle says. Using Berkeley DB's fine-grained locking mechanism and write-ahead logging underneath the SQLite API improves SQL concurrency, reliability, and performance. This upcoming release of Berkeley DB is the first version that is controllable with SQL statements.
Android Support and Other Features
JDBC and ODBC drivers for Berkeley DB have been added to the new version along with support for the Android platform. Previous versions of Berkeley DB have supported a wide array of POSIX operating systems such as Windows, Linux, BSD, Solaris, Mac OS X, and VxWorks. Berkeley DB is well suited for fast execution of applications in embedded environments such as mobile devices because it runs directly in the application that uses it. The embedded database is also well suited for data synchronization in a mobile environment. Berkeley DB uses the Oracle Database Lite Mobile Server for automatic provisioning and synchronization of Berkeley DB mobile apps and databases.
In-Kernel Berkeley DB Architecture
Berkeley DB 11g Release 2 is an attractive release for Android developers not only because there's platform support, but also because the SQLite-based API is familiar to Android developers who use SQLite for their database. Berkeley DB also comes with the comfort of support from a well-known vendor. When Oracle acquired Berkeley DB from Sleepycat in 2006, Oracle claimed that Berkeley DB was the most widely used open source database in the world with over 200 million deployments. It is used in Linux, BSD Unix, the Apache web server, and OpenOffice. With this release, we could begin to see Linux, Apache, and OpenOffice developers, who are familiar with Berkeley DB, encouraged to develop applications for Android phones.
SQL API
The new SQL API is based on SQLite, which operates in the background of Mac OS X and Adobe Lightroom, for example. All of the tools that work with SQLite will also work with Berkeley DB, Oracle says. Using Berkeley DB's fine-grained locking mechanism and write-ahead logging underneath the SQLite API improves SQL concurrency, reliability, and performance. This upcoming release of Berkeley DB is the first version that is controllable with SQL statements.
Android Support and Other Features
JDBC and ODBC drivers for Berkeley DB have been added to the new version along with support for the Android platform. Previous versions of Berkeley DB have supported a wide array of POSIX operating systems such as Windows, Linux, BSD, Solaris, Mac OS X, and VxWorks. Berkeley DB is well suited for fast execution of applications in embedded environments such as mobile devices because it runs directly in the application that uses it. The embedded database is also well suited for data synchronization in a mobile environment. Berkeley DB uses the Oracle Database Lite Mobile Server for automatic provisioning and synchronization of Berkeley DB mobile apps and databases.
In-Kernel Berkeley DB Architecture
Berkeley DB 11g Release 2 is an attractive release for Android developers not only because there's platform support, but also because the SQLite-based API is familiar to Android developers who use SQLite for their database. Berkeley DB also comes with the comfort of support from a well-known vendor. When Oracle acquired Berkeley DB from Sleepycat in 2006, Oracle claimed that Berkeley DB was the most widely used open source database in the world with over 200 million deployments. It is used in Linux, BSD Unix, the Apache web server, and OpenOffice. With this release, we could begin to see Linux, Apache, and OpenOffice developers, who are familiar with Berkeley DB, encouraged to develop applications for Android phones.
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