Appendix A: Document History

The exact file history is recorded in the manual module in our CVS tree; see http://sourceforge.net/cvs/?group_id=9028

Revision History
0.0	2002	IBP	Published as Chapter One of Using Firebird.
1.0	2003	IBP	Published separately as a free Quick Start Guide.
1.x	June 2004	IBP	Donated to Firebird Project by IBPhoenix.
2.0	27 Aug 2004	PV	Upgraded to Firebird 1.5 Added Classic vs. Superserver section. Reorganised and corrected Disk Locations Table. Added (new) screenshots. Added section on security. Updated and completed information on Control Panel applets. Added more examples to “Expressions involving `NULL`”. Various other corrections and additions.
2.1	20 Feb 2005	PV	Enhanced GSEC section. Added more info to CONNECT and CREATE DATABASE sections. Added version number and document history.
2.1.1	1 Mar 2005	PV	Changed `gbak r[estore]` to `r[eplace]` in two places.
2.1.2	8 Apr 2005	PV	Reordered Firebird SQL subsections. Added links to Firebird Null Guide.
2.2	2 Dec 2005	PV	Removed "Using the books by IBPhoenix" as it doesn't make sense in the QSG. Promoted "How to get help" to 1st-level section and removed "Where to next" shell. Removed link to UFB and RefGuide; added a note instead explaining their current status. Updated/corrected classic-super comparison table. Moved a number of sections on installing, working with databases, and (un)safety into newly created top-level sections.
2.2.1	22 Dec 2005	PV	Corrected statement on SS thread usage in Classic-vs-Superserver table. Fixed broken link.
3.0	21 May 2006	PV	Creation of 2.0 Quick Start Guide, still equal to previous revision except for some version numbers, XML ids etc.
3.2	10 Aug 2006	PV	Promoted “Firebird Project members” to co-authors in articleinfo. Updated references to website (`firebird.sourceforge.net` -> `www.firebirdsql.org`). Removed “maturity” and “Service Manager” rows from Classic-vs-Super table; these things are no longer different in Firebird 2. Also changed the row on local connections: CS and SS now both allow safe, reliable local connections on Windows. Added row on Guardian. Prepended a column with feature names. Removed any and all remarks about Classic not having a (full) Service Manager. Removed 2nd paragraph of “Default disk locations” section. Removed notes stating that Classic/Win connections will fail without a host name. Updated location table and inserted rows for documentation. Edited the Installation sections; added sections on Guardian and installing multiple servers. Removed “if-you-do-not-find-the-release-notes” tip. Heavily edited and extended the “Testing your installation” sections. The “Other things you need” section is now gone and its contents distributed across other sections. Added a section on gsec (consisting partly of existing material). Greatly enhanced and extended the Security section, and moved it to another location. Extended and improved the “Windows Control Panel applets” section. Edited “Working with databases”. Added a special section on connection strings. Added information on access to database objects, the `EXIT` statement, and local vs. remote connections. Made some paths in the examples relative, to keep the lines short. Extended paragraph on metadata. Weakened the claim that Firebird is more SQL-compliant than any other RDBMS. Changed the “Expressions involving `NULL`” section. Added a subsection on DISTINCT. Changed “More about `NULL`s” subsection somewhat. Renamed “Safety measures” to “Preventing data loss”. The Security subsection has been moved elsewhere. Extended Backup section to include nbackup information. Added links to other documentation. In the “How to corrupt...” part, changed gbak -r syntax to -rep and added explanatory note. Added the “IB6 plus rlsnotes” as last-resort option to How to get help. Also mentioned firebird-support explicitly. Corrected more version numbers, paths, and stuff. Many sections have been reshuffled, moved up or down the hierarchy, etc. Many smaller modifications are not listed here. Added “Happy Firebirding!” to conclude the last section.
3.3	15 Oct 2006	PV	Default disk locations table: added isql to command line tools; added row for additional server-side libs. Added introductory paragraph to “Installing Firebird”. Changed first sentence of “Installing on Linux...” Changed and extended “Server check: Linux and other Unices”. Corrected and extended the section on Linux client-only installs. Security section: moved last paragraph of the “Protect databases...” listitem into a new item on Classic local mode. Connection strings: improved and extended introductory paragraph; added a subsection on third party program requirements. Changed 3rd and 4th paragraph of “Connecting to an existing database”. Used relative paths in connection examples. Updated/corrected note on the use of quote characters. Edited first “Important” item in “The CREATE DATABASE statement”. Updated the warning about concatenation of long strings. Extended the note in “Restoring a backup to a running database”. Updated last sentence of first paragraph in “The Firebird Project”.
3.4	25 Jan 2007	PV	About this guide: Changed note about versions and replaced HTML and PDF links with single link to new doc index page. Classic or Superserver?: Replaced note on Embedded Server with a proper subsection, containing more info and links to UFB. Default disk locations: Created two subsections (for Linux and Windows); also split table in two and removed first column. Introduced placeholders `<ProgramDir>` and `<SystemDir>`. Changed text around tables, changed existing note, and added note for Win64 users. Security: Removed statement that 1.5 Release Notes are included with 2.x packages. More about `NULL`s: Replaced note about the Null Guide being updated with a para announcing the availability of the new version. Backup: Updated information on UFB. How to get help: Updated documentation links and changed text here and there.
3.5	14 Mar 2007	PV	About this guide and Important notice for 64-bit Windows users: Minor rewordings. User management: gsec and Connection strings: Added information on enabling local protocol with `IpcName=Global\FIREBIRD`. Security :: Use database aliases: Changed type from `<database>` to `<literal>` to improve output.