RELEASE NOTES
RELEASE NOTES

Compatibility between FrontBase™ 2.x and FrontBase 1.2

FrontBase 2.0 can work on databases created with previous versions of FrontBase, but we very strongly recommend that you migrate databases created with previous versions to the new version. Migrating an existing database consists of a few simple steps:

A complete backup of the current FrontBase installation (optional)

Depending on your preferences and the platform you work with, this can be done in a number of ways.You need to backup/copy the FrontBase directory:

Mac OS X Server:   /Local/Library/FrontBase
Shell command:     gnutar cvf /tmp/FB12.gtar /Local/Library/FrontBase

RedHat Linux:      /usr/local/FrontBase
Shell command:     gnutar cvf /tmp/FB12.gtar /usr/local/FrontBase

YellowDog Linux:   /opt/FrontBase
Shell command:     gnutar cvf /tmp/FB12.gtar /opt/FrontBase

You can of course use a different target directory than /tmp.

Export an existing database into socalled flat-files

  1. Make sure that the database is running (under version 1.2)
  2. Make a connection to the database using the tool of your preference (FBDatabaseManager, FBWebManager, or sql92) and connect as user _SYSTEM.
  3. Execute the following SQL: 
       WRITE ALL OUTPUT('/tmp/<database name>', 'YES');
  4. Stop the database.

The directory /tmp/<database name> will be created, and a number of files are created inside the directory. There will be a file called schema.sql and for each table in the database there will be a file named <schema id>_<table id>.

Install FrontBase 2.0

Stop the FBExec process.

Install FrontBase 2.0

Next step is to import from the flat-files:

  1. Create a new database, if you want to use the same name as before, delete the <database name>.fb file from the FrontBase/Databases directory.
  2. Connect as user _SYSTEM.
  3. Issue the following statement: 
       FBDatabaseManager: EXECUTE /tmp/<database name>/schema.sql<escape>
   sql92:   EXECUTE /tmp/<database name>/schema.sql;

Once the execution of this statement has completed, you have a rebuilt and fully FrontBase 2.0 native database.