From 9e044464f81cab771f8c282e0d8a33842044d6f4 Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001
From: Patrick Gniza <pgniza@gmx.de>
Date: Sun, 28 Jun 2026 19:47:30 +0000
Subject: [PATCH] =?UTF-8?q?Firebird=20hinzugef=C3=BCgt?=
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+# Firebird
+
+Firebird support is being introduced as a parallel database backend.
+
+This is especially relevant because macOS-based Romexis installations use Firebird and because Firebird is a realistic path for ARM64 environments.
+
+---
+
+## Compose Service
+
+Recommended Firebird service:
+
+```yaml
+firebird:
+  image: jacobalberty/firebird:3.0
+  container_name: romexis-firebird
+  environment:
+    ISC_PASSWORD: "${FIREBIRD_PASSWORD}"
+    FIREBIRD_DATABASE: "romexis.fdb"
+  ports:
+    - "${FIREBIRD_PORT:-3050}:3050"
+  volumes:
+    - ${ROMEXIS_DATA_ROOT}/firebird:/firebird/data
+  healthcheck:
+    test: ["CMD-SHELL", "nc -z localhost 3050 || exit 1"]
+    interval: 10s
+    timeout: 5s
+    retries: 30
+    start_period: 20s
+  restart: unless-stopped
+```
+
+Do not configure the container to create a second `SYSDBA` user. `SYSDBA` already exists.
+
+---
+
+## Romexis Settings
+
+```env
+SERVER_DB=4
+FIREBIRD_PORT=3050
+FIREBIRD_USER=sysdba
+FIREBIRD_PASSWORD=pwr0mex!
+FIREBIRD_DB_PATH=/firebird/data/romexis.fdb
+
+ROMEXIS_DB_USER=sysdba
+ROMEXIS_DB_PASSWORD=pwr0mex!
+```
+
+Generated JDBC URL:
+
+```text
+jdbc:firebirdsql://firebird:3050//firebird/data/romexis.fdb
+```
+
+---
+
+## Firebird SQL Payload
+
+The Firebird SQL payload is extracted from the macOS Romexis installer and stored in:
+
+```text
+/opt/romexis-firebird-db
+```
+
+Important files:
+
+```text
+scripts/RX_Create_Database.sql
+scripts/RX_Base_10fb_MAC.sql
+scripts/rxdb.sh
+scripts/rxupd.sh
+tools/Romexis_Firebird_Backup.sh
+tools/Romexis_Firebird_Restore.sh
+templates/romexis_new.fdb
+```
+
+---
+
+## Important Tooling Note
+
+The Firebird CLI tool should be:
+
+```text
+isql-fb
+```
+
+not unixODBC `isql`.
+
+If you see this output:
+
+```text
+unixODBC - isql and iusql
+```
+
+then the wrong tool is being used.
+
+Set:
+
+```bash
+export ISQL=isql-fb
+```
+
+or make the init script default to:
+
+```bash
+ISQL="${ISQL:-isql-fb}"
+```
+
+---
+
+## Database Creation Strategy
+
+If the Firebird container creates an empty database via:
+
+```yaml
+FIREBIRD_DATABASE: "romexis.fdb"
+```
+
+then the Romexis Firebird init script should not run `CREATE DATABASE` again.
+
+Instead, it should connect to the existing empty database and import the Romexis SQL scripts.
+
+---
+
+## Debugging Firebird Initialization
+
+Open a shell in the Romexis container:
+
+```bash
+docker exec -it romexis-server bash
+```
+
+Run the initializer manually:
+
+```bash
+ISQL=isql-fb DB_CREATE_VERBOSE=1 bash -x /opt/init-romexis-firebird-db.sh
+```
+
+Check connectivity:
+
+```bash
+bash -c ':</dev/tcp/firebird/3050'
+```
+
+Connect manually:
+
+```bash
+isql-fb -user sysdba -password 'pwr0mex!' firebird/3050:/firebird/data/romexis.fdb
+```