Back to Workshop Selecting a Java IDE Problem playing DTMF tones (source code) Installing Cloudscape/Derby with Tomcat and ODBC Free, heavy duty, databases Accessing GET data from JSF and Studio Creator/NetBeans VWP A Web Presence at Minimum Cost HTML/CSS Multi column layout RAD Web Development Tools HTML/CSS Multi column layout
I believe the following is a complete list of free, heavy-duty, relational databases that you can distribute with your application.
- Firebird (Open Source).
- IBM DB2 Express-C.
- Ingres (Open Source).
- Microsoft SQL Server Express Edition (MS Windows 2000 and subsequent only).
- MySQL Community Edition (Open Source but...). You should be aware that MySQL AB restrict their Open Source licence to users who are developing Open Source software by using the GPL license instead of the LGPL license for the library code your program needs to access a database. They insist that just using the database makes your application a derived work and you either open source your application or buy a license. Given the high quality alternatives on this page I suggest you choose a different database.
- Oracle Express Edition.
- PostgreSQL (Open Source).
- Sybase ASE Express Edition (Linux only).
Open Source software usually requires you to satisfy some simple conditions, such as making the source code available, in order to give the software to your customers. The commercial databases usually require free registration which incorporates a license agreement
Embedded Java Databases
If you are developing in Java you may want a database that is also written in Java and will run in the same JVM as your application. The following Open Source relational databases don't have all the features of the databases listed above but will meet that requirement. H2 and HSQLDB allow you to specify that the entire database should be memory resident. Derby, H2, HSQLDB and One$DB can be set up to run in the same JVM as your application and allow client/server access. This is particularly useful in testing. McKoi, SimpleText and SmallSQL do not allow this.
- Apache Derby. Sun have renamed it Java DB. The Sun version comes with an installer for common operating systems and Sun offer optional paid support. Java DB is included with the current Java SE Development Kit and several other Sun development tools but if you want the most recent version you should obtain it from the Apache site.
- H2 .
- HSQLDB Database Engine .
- Mckoi SQL Database .
- Daffodil DB .
- SimpleText. A JDBC driver for comma delimited text files. Limited SQL functionality.
- SmallSQL.
