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From [email protected] Sat Jan 1 19:48:18 PST 1994
Article: 5175 of comp.databases
Path: idiom.berkeley.ca.us!idiom.berkeley.ca.us!not-for-mail
From: [email protected] (David Muir Sharnoff)
Newsgroups: comp.databases,comp.databases.object,comp.sources.d,comp.os.linux.misc,comp.answers,news.answers
Subject: Catalog of free database systems
Supersedes:
Followup-To: comp.databases
Date: 1 Jan 1994 19:40:19 -0800
Organization: Idiom Consulting / Berkeley, CA USA
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Archive-name: free-databases
Last-modified: 1994/01/01
Version: 1.4


Catalog of Free Database Systems

This document attemts to catalog databases that are
available without payment and with source.

The latest version of the document can be ftp'ed: get
pub/free-databases from idiom.berkeley.ca.us.

I will post this document about once a month to comp.databases,
comp.databases.object, comp.answers, and news.answers. I will
also post it to two other other groups somewhat randomly.

Please send additions, corrections, and donations to
David Muir Sharnoff

Thanks,

-Dave
Idiom Consulting, Berkeley, CA

---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Prototype entry:

name: The name of the package
version: The current version number of the package
direct inquiries to "contact."
interface from: (interfaces only) front end protocol/program/language
interface to: (interfaces only) back end protocol/program/server/etc.
interfaces: The external interfaces that are supported by
the package. Common interfaces are: SQL, ESQL,
dbm, etc.
access methods: A list of the access methods that are supported
multiuser: Can more than one person access the package at
the same time.
transactions: Does the package support transactions?
distributed: Does the package support distributed databases?
query language: What query languages does the package support
if any? SQL, QUEL, etc.
index size: (full text only) the size of the index as a percentage
of the size of the text to be indexed.
limits: Any known, annoying limits
robustness: Can this package be used on mission-critical data?
description: A description of the package.
references: Pointers to other documentation
announcements: Where to get announcements
discussion: Where to send, or how to join discussions about
the package
bugs: Where to send bug reports
requires: Special requirements for installing or running
ports: What does the package run on?
restrictions: Special copyright or other restrictions on the software
author: The primary author, if known. If not known,
contact: The current contact point. If not specified,
use "author."
how to get: Instructions for obtaining the package
updated: When the package was last updated (yyyy/mm/dd) [often
incorrect]
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Selected changes:

a new 4gl: Onyx is out

version 2.1 of LINCKS is out
version 3-3.4 of OBST is out
version 1.13 of lq-text is out
version 2.0 of Sybtcl is out
version 2.0 of Oratcl is out

---------------------------------------------------------------------------
--------------------------- relational databases --------------------------
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

name: DiamondBase
version: 0.2
interfaces: C++ library
access methods: b+ tree
multiuser: Alpha in this version
transactions: no
distributed: no
query language: C++ methods
limits: limits are set at compile time. The default max records
is 21474836.
robustness: The database engine is quite stable. The multi-user extensions
are a recent addition and are still considered to be an alpha
version. The single user version is separate however and
unaffected.
description: DiamondBase is written entirely in C++, and uses a schema
compiler to generate C++ class defintions for the objects, as
well as some comparison code which is also linked in to the
final executable. Facilities are now available to access
generic relations without providing comparison code. It was
written originally as a replacement for MetalBase which was too
slow. DiamondBase is very fast.
announcements: send mail to Darren Platt to be put on their list
questions: send mail to Darren Platt
bugs: send mail to Darren Platt
requires: C++
ports: many Unix platforms and OS/2 under cfront or gcc or
Borland's compiler.
restrictions: Free usage for non-commerical applications -- negotiate
anything else.
author: Kevin Lentin, Andrew Davison, Darren Platt
contact: Darren Platt
how to get: ftp pub/export/? from pippin.cs.monash.edu.au
updated: 1993/11/06

name: University INGRES
version: 8.9
interfaces: QUEL, EQUEL
access methods: heap, hash, isam, ordered
multiuser: yes
transactions: yes, but no multistatement transactions. Each statement
is ACID
distributed: no
query language: QUEL
limits: ?
robustness: Very mature technology
description: This is the database program that was the basis for INGRES
Corporation. Obviously, it does not have all the bells
and whistles of the current commercial product. However,
it is small and fast and it works.
So called ordered relations are slow and not locked.
references: "The INGRES Papers" Stonebraker ed. Addison Wesley
ports: SunOS, ?
author: The Ingres project at UC Berkeley.
contact:
how to get: ftp pub/ingres89.tar.Z from s2k-ftp.CS.Berkeley.EDU
_and_ ftp pub/source/ingres.patch from idiom.berkeley.ca.us
linux: ftp pub/linux/packages/ingres from tsx-11.mit.edu
updated: 1993/05/20

name: MetalBase
version: 5.0
interfaces: custome C library
access methods: AVL-trees
multiuser: yes, but in theory race conditions still exist
transactions: yes
distributed: no
query language: "Report", and "View Relation" a curses based viewer
limits: ?
robustness: data corruption is possible when MetalBase is not shut
down correctly
description: MetalBase is a small relational database. It has all the
pieces that a relational database should C interface, curses
interface, report writer, etc. It does not have design which
takes advantage of shared memory or the better access methods.
None of the interfaces are standard, but all of them are easy
to use.
discussion: [email protected]
requires: curses
ports: Linux, MS-DOS, Amiga, NeXT, Coherent, Macintosh MPW, SGI, Xenix
restrictions: donations are suggested
author: Richid Jernigan / PO Box 827 / Norris TN 37828
how to get: ftp systems/unix/linux/sources/usr.bin/mbase.tar.z
from ftp.uu.net
updated: 1992/10/01

name: Postgres
version: 4.1
interfaces: libpq (C interface)
access methods: Heap plus secondary indexes: B-tree, R-tree, Hash.
multiuser: yes
transactions: yes
distributed: no
query language: Postquel (incompatable superset of Quel)
limits: ?
robustness: "It is not up to commercial levels of reliability. I would
not want _my_ payroll records in it :-)"
One user reports that with two people writing to the same
table it ocaisonally deadlocks. (version 4.1)
description: Postgres is a database research project under Prof. Michael
Stonebraker at U. C. Berkeley. To facilitate research
efforts, a software test-bed was created; this is the
"Postgres" DBMS software. The Postgres DBMS is extended
relational or object oriented, depending on the buzzword du
jour. Postgres is relational. It is highly extensible. It
has object oriented features like inheritance. it has query
language procedures, rules, updatable views, and more.
references: There are may papers available, both through ftp and as
hard-copy technical reports. Cruse the ftp site for papers
or mail Michelle Mattera
discussion: send "Subject: ADD" to [email protected]
linux: send "X-Mn-Admin: join postgres"
to [email protected]
bugs:
ports: MIPS Ultrix 4.2+, SunOS 4.1.1+, NextStep 3.0, Linux 0.99.7
in progress: Alpha OSF/1, HP-PA HP-UX 8.07, HP-PA HP-UX 9.01,
i386 SCO ODT 2.0, Sparc Solaris 2.1
previous versions: i386 SVR4, i386 386BSD, RS/6000 AIX 3.2
contact: developers:
chief programmer: Marc Teitelbaum
admin: Michelle Mattera
how to get: ftp pub/postgres/postgres-v4r1/* from s2k-ftp.CS.Berkeley.EDU.
updated: 1993/03/19

name: REQUIEM
version: ?
interfaces: RQL, ERQL (extension)
access methods: B-tree indexes can be created on attributes of base relations.
multiuser: yes (multiuser extension)
transactions: yes (multiuser extension)
distributed: no
query language: RQL
robustness: [seems to maintained by zero to few people --muir]
description: REQUIEM (RElational Query and Update Interactive systEM) is an
extensible, relational DBMS developed in C with a query language
based on the relational algebra called RQL (Relational Query
Language).
There appears to be three versions of REQUIEM: the base
version and two extensions. One extension adds multiuser
capability. The other adds an embeddable version of the
query langauge.
references: "An Extensible DBMS for Small-Medium Scale Systems",
Papazoglou, M.P., IEEE Micro, April 1989.
Relational Database Management - A Systems Programming
Approach, Papazoglou, M.P. and Valder, W., Prentice Hall
International, UK, 1989.
"The Development of a Program Interface for the RDBMS Requiem"
Power, R.A., 1991 Honours Thesis (dvi file available with
source code for the embedded version).
ports: Sparc/SunOS; base version only: MS-DOS, Macintosh
contact: (embedded version only)
Robert Power
how to get: ftp pub/requiem/REQUIEM.tar.Z (multiuser version) or
pub/requiem/Requiem.tar.Z (embeddable version)
from dcssoft.anu.edu.au
The base version can be constructed from the multiuser version.
updated: 1992/10/06

name: shql
version: 1.1
interfaces: SQL, shell
multiuser: no
transactions: no ?
distributed: no
limits: no NULLs in the data, spaces and backslashes may be added when
the data contains punctuation, GROUP BY is not implemented.
robustness: it is a shell script.
description: Shql is a program that reads SQL commands interactively and
executes those commands by creating and manipulating Unix
files. The program is patterned after Ingres' interactive sql
terminal monitor program.
requires: bourne shell with functions, awk, grep, cut, sort, uniq, join,
wc, and sed
author: Bruce Momjian
how to get: ask archie
updated: 1993/01/25

---------------------------------------------------------------------------
--------------------------- object oriented -------------------------------
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

name: Arjuna Distributed Programming System
version: 2.0
interfaces: C++
access methods: ?
multiuser: yes
transactions: yes, nested
distributed: yes, includes replicated objects
query language: ?
limits: ?
robustness: "all reported bugs fixed"
description: Arjuna is a programming system for reliable distributed
computing. Arjuna supports nested atomic actions for
controlling operations on objects (instances of C++ classes),
which can potentially be persistent. The software available
includes a C++ stub generator which hides much of the details
of client-server based programming, plus a system programmer's
manual containing details of how to install Arjuna and use it
to build fault-tolerant distributed applications.
discussion: send "join arjuna YOUR-NAME-HERE" to [email protected]
ports: UNIX: Suns, HPs, etc.
restrictions: A commercial extension exists.
contact: [email protected]
how to get: ftp ? from arjuna.ncl.ac.uk
updated: 1993/05/15

name: EXODUS Project software
version: GNU E 2.3.3, Storage Manager (SM) 3.0
interfaces: GNU E, (C++ for direct access to the Storage Manager)
access methods: B+tree and linear-hashing based indexes
multiuser: yes, client-server
transactions: yes
distributed: yes, applications can access multiple servers in a single
transaction. Distributed commits are performed across servers
and clients have access to an interface allowing participation
in distributed commits managed by an external agent.
query language: GNU E -- a persistent programming language based on C++
robustness: High (at least for academic software).
The SM release includes a facility for regression
testing most features, including crash recovery.
description: The EXODUS Storage Manager (SM) is a client-server object
storage system which provides "storage objects" for storing
data, versions of objects, "files" for grouping related storage
objects, and indexes for supporting efficient object access. A
storage object is an uninterpreted container of bytes which can
range in size from a few bytes to hundreds of megabytes. The
Storage Manager provides routines to read, overwrite, and
efficiently grow and shrink objects. In addition, the Storage
Manager provides transactions, lock-based concurrency control,
and log-based recovery.
GNU E is a persistent, object oriented programming language
developed as part of the Exodus project. GNU E extends C++
with the notion of persistent data, program level data objects
that can be transparently used across multiple executions of a
program, or multiple programs, without explicit input and
output operations.
references: A bibliography of EXODUS related papers can be obtained from
the ftp site described below. Some of the papers are available
from the ftp server as technical reports, and are marked as
such in the bibliography.
discussion: We maintain a list of users for notification of updates.
Mail [email protected] to be placed on the list.
bugs: [email protected]
ports: MIPS/Ultrix, SPARC/SunOS, (HP 7xx/HP-UX for SM only)
restrictions: none, but see copyright notice located in all source files
author: The EXODUS Database Toolkit project at the
University of Wisconsin
contact: [email protected]
how to get: ftp exodus/* from ftp.cs.wisc.edu
updated: 1993/07/22

name: LINCKS (Linkoping Intelligent Communication of Knowledge System)
version: 2.1
interfaces: emacs-like editor, ?
access methods: ?
multiuser: yes
transactions: ?
distributed: ?
query language: hypertext-ish X user interface
robustness: ?
description: LINCKS is an object-centred multi-user database system
developed for complex information system applications where
editing and browsing of information in the database is of
paramount importance. The focus is on sharing of small
information chunks which combine to make up complex information
objects used by different users for different purposes. The
information chunks are semi-structured in that they contain one
part which is well-structured to facilitate addition of A.I.
processing within the system, and one part which is
unstructured and suitable for management by the user.
Features: shared composite objects, database history,
atlernative views, change collision notification (when more
than one person makes changes to the same composite object)
discussion: ?
bugs: [email protected].
requires: Unix, X11R5
ports: Sun4/SunOS 4.1.[123], Sun4/SunOS 5.2, Sun3, Decstation,
RS/6000, Sequent Symmetry, Linux, HP-UX
restrictions: GNU General Public License
author: Lin Padgham, Ralph Ronnquist; University of Linkoping, Sweden
contact: [email protected]
how to get: ftp pub/lincks/lincks-2.1.tar.gz from ftp.ida.liu.se
updated: 1993/12/20

name: OBST
version: 3-3.4
interfaces: C++, tcl, schema compiler, graphical object browser
access methods: extendable hashtable
multiuser: yes, but writing locks entire tables
transactions: yes
distributed: not yet
query language: C++, tcl, graphical object browser
limits: 4 GB per container, 2^32 containers
robustness: The latest OBST-bug has been reported and corrected in May '93.
There are somewhere between 50 and 500 users. Releases are made
to enhance the coding quality rather than to add new features.
description: The persistent object management system OBST was developed by
Forschungszentrum Informatik (FZI) as a contribution to the
STONE project. This project (supported by grant no. ITS8902A7
from the BMFT, i.e. the German Ministry for Research) aims at
the development of a software engineering environment for
education purposes and is carried out as a joint project of
nine german universities and research institutions.
An essential feature of STONE is that the object oriented
paradigm is pursued consequently as a key concept. OBST is the
common persistent object store for all tools within the STONE
environment.
OBST provides a rich OO model including multiple inheritance,
generics, overloading, and privacy. The schema definition
language is syntactically similar to C++. It comes with a
library of pre-defined classes like Set, and
List. New methods can be incrementally loaded at
runtime.
announcements: send "Subject: obst-mailing-list", "SUBSCRIBE
" to [email protected]
bugs: send OBST version, C++ version, machine, OS, and a
description of your problem to .
requires: A C++ compiler (G++ 2.3.3-2.5.5 or AT&T 2.1/3.01)
ports: UNIX: SPARC/SunOS 4.1, Solaris 2, Linux, HP-UX, ...
contact: [email protected]
how to get: ftp pub/OBST/? from ftp.fzi.de
usa: ftp pub/database/stone/? from ftp.uu.net
uk: ftp computing/databases/OBST/? from src.doc.ic.ac.uk
updated: 1993/12/08

name: The Texas Persistent Store
version: 0.1
interfaces: C++ library
access methods: ?
multiuser: not yet
transactions: not yet
distributed: not yet
query language: ?
index size: ?
limits: ?
robustness: beta software
description: Texas is a simple, portable, high-performance persistent store
for C++ using "pointer swizzling at page fault time" to
translate persistent addresses to hardware-supported virtual
addresses. Texas is built on top of a normal virtual memory,
and relies on the underlying virtual memory system for
caching. Texas is easy to use, and is implemented as a UNIX
library. It is small and can be linked into applications. It
requires no special operating system privileges, and
persistence is orthogonal to type---objects may be allocated on
either a conventional transient heap, or on the persistent
heap, as desired. Texas supports simple checkpointing of heap
data.
references: ftp pub/garbage/*.ps from cs.utexas.edu
announcements: send mail to [email protected]
discussion: ?
bugs: ?
requires: ?
ports: SunOS, Ultrix, Sun CC, GNU C++
restrictions: ?
author: ?
contact: [email protected]
how to get: ftp pub/garbage/texas/? from cs.utexas.edu
updated: ?

name: William's Object Oriented Database (Wood)
version: 0.6
interfaces: MCL 2.0
access methods: custom
multiuser: no
transactions: no
distributed: no
query language: none. Has BTrees for indexing.
limits: Will slow down when the database size exceeds
256 megabytes. Otherwise, database size limited
by disk size (up to Macintosh limit, which is,
I believe, 4 gigabytes). Object size limited
to 24 megabytes. If you think of a Wood database
as a random access FASL file, you'll have the
right idea.
robustness: Until it has a real logging/recovery mechanism,
I wouldn't advise using it for mission critical
data. Caches pages in memory, so if you crash,
you will lose. Has a function to flush the
cache to disk, so you can do explicit checkpoints
to make it more robust.
description: Wood is a simple persistent store for MCL 2.0.
This is still alpha software. It is incomplete: though you can
save/restore all Lisp objects to/from a file, there is no
transaction/recovery manager and no garbage collector for the
persistent heap. I will not be able to provide much support,
but you get source code.
discussion: [email protected]
bugs: [email protected]
ports: Macintosh CommonLisp 2.0
author: Bill St. Clair
how to get: ftp pub/mcl2/contrib/wood* from cambridge.apple.com
updated: 1993/03/07

---------------------------------------------------------------------------
--------------------------- deductive databases ---------------------------
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

name: Aditi Deductive Database System
version: beta release
interfaces: motif, command line, NU-Prolog
access methods: Base relations contain variable sized records. Base relations
can be indexed with B-trees or multi-level signature files
(superimposed code words) allowing multi-attribute indexing and
querying, or they can be stored as unindexed flat files.
multiuser: yes
transactions: next release
distributed: ?
query language: prolog, graphical (Motif)
limits: ?
robustness: ?
description: Aditi is a multi-user deductive database system. It supports
base relations defined by facts (relations in the sense of
relational databases) and derived relations defined by rules
that specify how to compute new information from old
information. The old information can be from derived relations
as well as base relations; the rules of derived relations may
be recursive. Both base relations and the rules defining
derived relations are stored on disk and are accessed as
required during query evaluation.
ports: SPARC/SunOS, MIPS/IRIX
author: The development of the Aditi system started in 1988 by
Professor Kotagiri Ramamohanarao, and many people have been
involved in its development, in particular Jayen Vaghani, Tim
Leask, Peter Stuckey, John Shepherd, Zoltan Somogyi, James
Harland and David Kemp. The support of Kim Marriott, David
Keegel, and Warwick Harvey is also acknowledged.
contact: [email protected]
how to get: send email to [email protected]
updated: 1992/12/17

name: CORAL
version: 0.1 (Version 1.0 expected shortly)
interfaces: Exodus storage mangager, C++
access methods: Hash-based and B+ tree indices
multiuser: When used with Exodus
transactions: When used with Exodus
distributed: ?
query language: Prolog-like with SQL-style extensions; C++ interface
limits: No type checking; only atomic values in persistent relations
robustness: Research software; used for teaching and in research projects,
but some bugs remain
description: The CORAL deductive database/logic programming system was
developed at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. The CORAL
declarative language is based on Horn-clause rules with
extensions like SQL's group-by and aggregation operators, and
uses a Prolog-like syntax. Many evaluation techniques are
supported, including bottom-up fixpoint evaluation and top-down
backtracking. Disk-resident data is supported via an interface
to the Exodus storage manager; however, CORAL can run without
Exodus if disk-resident relations are not required.
A good interface to C++ is provided. Relations defined using
the declarative language can be manipulated from C++ code,
and relations defined using C++ code can be used in declarative
rules. C++ code defining relations can be incrementally loaded.
requires: AT&T C++ 2.0 or later
ports: Decstations, Sun 4, Sparc, HP Snakes
author: The CORAL group consists of R. Ramakrishnan, P. Seshadri,
D. Srivastava and S. Sudarshan. The following people made
important contributions: T. Arora, P. Bothner, V. Karra
and W.G. Roth. Several other people were also involved:
J. Albert, T. Ball, L. Chan, M. Das, S. Goyal, R. Netzer
and S. Sterner.
contact: Raghu Ramakrishnan
how to get: ftp from ftp.cs.wisc.edu
updated: 1993/02/12

---------------------------------------------------------------------------
--------------------------- special purpose -------------------------------
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

name: GRAS (GRAph-oriented database System)
version: 5.90/9 [[6.0 alpha]]
interfaces: Navigational programming interfaces for C and Modula-2
access methods: tries fro database pages, static hashing within pages
multiuser: Very restricted single writer/multiple reader access
[[6.0: shared read/write access with locks on a per-session,
transaction, or operation basis]]
transactions: yes; based on backwards logs. Checkpoints allow roll-back (and
roll-forward) to a previous state.
distributed: no. [[6.0: Multiclient/multiserver architecture]]
query language: PROGRES (PROgrammed Graph Rewriting Systems; a language released
separately)
limits: 2**16 nodes per database and 2**16 databases per multi-database
[[6.0: 2**32 nodes]]
robustness: Has been successfully used as the underlying database for
a number of research prototypes and one commercial product.
Guarantees recovery from (almost) all application/system crashes
description: GRAS is a database system which has been designed according
to the requirements resulting from software engineering
applications. Software development environments are composed
of tools which operate on complex, highly structured data.
In order to model such data in a natural way, we have selected
attributed graphs as GRAS' underlying data model.
The current version has programming interfaces for Modula-2 and
C and supports:
- persistent attributed, directed node- and edge-labeled
graphs (including long attributes and indexes)
- temporary/volatile generic sets, binary relations, and lists,
- graph modification triggers causing further modifications
- primitives for version control comprising the capability
for efficiently storing graphs as forward/backward deltas
- primitives for declaring graph schemes and for incremental
evaluation of derived attributes (constraints).
In additon, there are tools for compressing and displaying
graphs. The GRAS system may be considered to be the core of a
graph oriented DBMS environment. The environment is based on a
VHLL called PROGRESS. This environment supports: a
syntax-directed editor for graph schemes, rewrite rules and
sequences of rules; an incremental consistency checker; an
incremental compiler&interpreter for PROGRESS; an enhanced
graph browser
references: Kiesel, Schuerr, Westfechtel: GRAS, A Graph-Oriented Database
System for (Software) Engineering Applications. Proc. CASE 93,
Lee, Reid, Jarzabek (eds.): Proc. CASE '93, 6th Int. Conf. on
Computer-Aided Software Engineering, IEEE Computer Society
Press (1993), pp 272-286. Available by ftp as TR AIB 92-44.
Schuerr: PROGRES: A VHL-Language Based on Graph Grammars,
in Proc. 4th Int. Workshop on Graph-Grammars and Their
Application to Computer Science, LNCS 532, Springer-
Verlag 1991, pp 641-659. Available by ftp asTR AIB 90-16.
announcements: a list is forming; send mail to the contact (below)
bugs: use the included "send-pr" program to send bug reports
requires: Modula-2, C
ports: Sun-4, porting requires Modula-2
restrictions: GNU General Public License
author: Lehrstuhl fuer Informatik III, RWTH Aachen, Ahornstr. 55
D-52074 Aachen, Germany.
contact: (v5.x & PROGRES) Dr. Andy Sch"urr
(v6.x) Norbert Kiesel
how to get: (v5.x) ftp pub/unix/GRAS from ftp.informatik.rwth-aachen.de
(PROGRES sun4) ftp pub/unix/PROGRES from ftp.informatik.rwth-aachen.de
(PROGRES source) send mail to contact
(references) ftp pub/reports/* from ftp.informatik.rwth-aachen.de
(v6.x) contact Norbert Kiesel
updated: 1993/11/01

---------------------------------------------------------------------------
--------------------------- flat files ------------------------------------
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

name: EDB, the Emacs database
version: 1.17
interfaces: Emacs, Emacs Lisp
multiuser: no
transactions: no
distributed: no
query language: Emacs Lisp
limits: same as for Emacs -- typically 8 or 32 MB
robustness: fairly high -- currently being used for mission-critical data
description: EDB provides simple database access in a "user-friendly" Emacs
environment for flat files. Extensions for linking records and
relational-like operations exist, and further extensions are
easy to make.
EDB is documented by a 110-page manual, complete with indices
discussion: [email protected]
bugs: [email protected] or [email protected]
requires: GNU Emacs 18, GNU Emacs 19, or Lucid Emacs
ports: any computer that runs Emacs -- that is, almost any computer
restrictions: GNU Public License
author: Michael Ernst
how to get: ftp pub/emacs/edb/edb.tar.Z from theory.lcs.mit.edu
updated: 1993/06/16

name: Jinx
version: 2.1
interfaces: perl, shell
multiuser: no
transactions: no
distributed: no
query language: none
limits: no limits
robustness: No bugs have ever been reported
description: Very easy to use, curses based flat file handler.
In Perl, so no limits. Allows Join, Project, Sort etc.
Representation in 2 readable unix files. A documented
Perl library makes it easy to add applications.
references: Online help and a 17 page tutorial.
requires: Perl, cterm (distributed with jinx)
ports: any unix system with ordinary perl and curses
restrictions: Copyleft
author: Henk Penning, Utrecht University
contact: Henk Penning
how to get: ftp pub/PERL/jinx.shar.Z and pub/PERL/cterm.shar.Z
from ftp.cs.ruu.nl
updated: 1991/11/01

name: rdb
version: 2.5j
interfaces: ?
access methods: ?
multiuser: ?
transactions: ?
distributed: ?
query language: ?
limits: ?
robustness: ?
description: RDB is mostly a set of Perl scripts working as filters, like
"row" & "column"; a very nifty table formatting script is in
"ptbl", which can do long field folding into multiple lines per
row.
references: ?
discussion: ?
bugs: ?
requires: perl
ports: ?
author: Walt Hobbs
how to get: ftp pub/RDB-hobbs/RDB-2.5j.tar.Z from rand.org
updated: ?

---------------------------------------------------------------------------
----------------- dbm and other and raw access methods -------------------
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

name: The Berkeley DB code
version: 1.72
interfaces: ndbm, hsearch
access methods: hash, b+tree, recno
multiuser: no
transactions: no
distributed: no
query language: none
limits: can handle large items
robustness: The db routines are used in some production code so they
are likely to work reasonably well.
description: The Berkeley DB Code is a unification of several previous
interfaces. It also forms the basis of a unified interface
to new access methods (b+tree, recno).
references: "A New Hashing Package for UNIX", Margo Seltzer, Ozan Yigit,
Proceedings of the Winter USENIX Conference, Dallas, TX, 1991.
Also available by ftp'ing pub/oz/hash.ps.Z from nexus.yorku.ca.
"Document Processing in a Relational Database System, Michael
Stonebraker," Heidi Stettner, Joseph Kalash, Antonin Guttman,
Nadene Lynn, Memorandum No. UCB/ERL M82/32, May 1982.
"LIBTP: Portable, Modular Transactions for UNIX," Margo
Seltzer, Michael Olson, Proceedings 1992 Winter Usenix
Conference, San Francisco, CA, January 1992.
reported bugs: does not align data in memory [fixed? --ed]
ports: SunOS 4.1.2, Ultrix 4.2A, BSD 4.4, and most other Unix
author: Margo Seltzer, Keith Bostic, Ozan Yigit
contact: Keith Bostic
how to get: ftp ucb/4bsd/db.tar.Z from ftp.cs.berkeley.edu
updated: 1993/10/12

name: Btree Library
version: first public release
interfaces: raw C library
access methods: b-tree
multiuser: no
transactions: no
distributed: no
query language: none
limits: values are limited to 4 bytes (long enough for a pointer!)
robustness: ?
description: Ths is a library that maintains a simple balanced btree index.
Nothing more is provided than routines to insert, set, find
(specific, next, and previous), and delete keys. Each key,
however, has a spare long value that can be used to contain an
offset to a data file. A library to handle fixed-length records
based on these pointers should be trivial. (Can you say
'dBASEIII'?) Another failing of this library is its total
inability to cope with having several programs modifying
indices at the same time. (it *CAN*, but I won't vouch for the
result) The good solutions to that particular problem are OS
dependent, unfortunately, and I am not a database guru anyhow.
ports: Unix
author: Marcus J. Ranum
how to get: get btree and bt-rio from comp.sources.misc volume 3
updated: 1988/06/02

name: B+tree Library
version: first public release
interfaces: raw C library, dbm-like library
access methods: b+tree
multiuser: no
transactions: no
distributed: no
query language: none
limits: ?
robustness: ?
description: This is the source code for a variable-length key variable page
size b+tree library. Also included is source for a variety of
test programs, a semi-useable record manager, and a
dbm-lookalike library built on top of the record manager and
b+tree. (dbm(3) will blow it away performance-wise, of
course).
ports: Pyramid, Sun, BSD4.3, Ultrix. Does not work on Xenix
author: Marcus J. Ranum
how to get: get b+tree_mgr from comp.sources.misc volume 10
updated: 1988/06/02

name: dbz
version: "20 Feb 1993 Performance Release of C News"
interfaces: dbm-like, command-line access
access methods: hash
multiuser: no
transactions: no
distributed: no
query language: none
limits: lines are limited to 1024 bytes unless the -l option is used
robustness: very robust within its domain
description: A dbm-like library maintained for use with C-news.
ports: everything that runs C-news (lots)
author: Jon Zeeff , David Butler, Mark
Moraes, Henry Spencer. Hashing function by Peter Honeyman.
contact: Henry Spencer
how to get: included in the C-news distribution as ./dbz
updated: 1992/02/11

name: gdbm
version: 1.7.1
interfaces: dbm, ndbm, gdbm
access methods: hash
multiuser: no, but does lock the entire file
transactions: no
distributed: no
query language: none
limits: can handle large items
robustness: [should be good --ed]
description: An ndbm work-alike from the Free Software Foundation
bugs: gnu.utils.bug
author: Philip A. Nelson
how to get: ftp gdbm-*.tar.gz from any gnu archive
updated: 1993/11/16

name: sdbm
version: ?
interfaces: ndbm
access methods: hash
multiuser: no
transactions: no
distributed: no
query language: none
limits: ?
robustness: [I know of no problems --ed]
description: ndbm work-alike hashed database library based
on Per-Aake Larson's Dynamic Hashing algorithms.
author: Ozan S. Yigit
how to get: included in the X11R5 distribution as contrib/util/sdbm
updated: 1990/03/01

name: tdbm
version: 1.1
interfaces: dbm-like
access methods: hashing
multiuser: In theory, but the required threads package is not currently
distributed.
transactions: yes
distributed: yes
query language: none
limits: Some minor ones.
robustness: Probably pretty reliable, but no hard data available.
description: Tdbm is a transaction processing database with a dbm-like
interface. It provides nested atomic transactions, volatile
and persistent databases, and support for very large objects
and distributed operation.
references: A paper appearing in the Summer '92 USENIX proceedings
describes the design and implementation of tdbm and examines
its performance.
discussion: Contact the author.
bugs: Contact the author.
author: Barry Brachman
requires: Nothing special.
ports: Sparc, MIPS, AIX. Thought to be quite portable.
restrictions: Copyrighted with liberal use policy.
how to get: ftp pub/local/src/tdbm.tar.Z from cs.ubc.ca [137.82.8.5]
updated: 1992/05/13

name: Wb
version: 1a2
interfaces: scheme library
access method: b-tree
multiuser: no
transactions: no
distributed: no
query language: none
limits: keys and data must be less that 256 bytes. Total database
must be < blocksize*2^32.
robustness: unknown. New release by a good programmer.
description: WB is a disk based, sorted associative array C library. These
associative arrays consist of variable length (less that 256
bytes) keys and values. WB comes with an interface to the
Scheme implementation SCM.
author: Aubrey Jaffer
requires: SCM and SLIB (also available from altdorf.ai.mit.edu)
ports: ?
how to get: ftp archive/scm/wb1a2.tar.z from altdorf.ai.mit.edu
updated: 1993/11/05

---------------------------------------------------------------------------
--------------------------- full text -------------------------------------
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

name: Liam Quin's text retrieval package (lq-text)
version: 1.13
interfaces: command line, curses
access methods: hash (dbm) plus clustered linked list
multiuser: read only
distributed: no, can be used over nfs if the systems are similar
query language: very limited command line
limits: 30-bit max document size, 31-bit distinct words in vocabulary,
up to 2^24 documents (possibly more but I don't have enough
disk to test anything like that!)
index size: >30%, <100% of input text
robustness: The README says that there are bugs.
description: lq-text is a text retrieval package.
That means you can tell it about lots of files, and later you
can ask it questions about them. The questions have to be:
"which files contain this word?" or "which files contain this
phrase?", but this information turns out to be rather useful.
Lqtext has been designed to be reasonably fast. It uses an
inverted index, which is simply a kind of database. This tends
to be smaller than the size of the data, but more than half as
large. You still need to keep the original data.
Lqtext uses dbm (berkeley db or sdbm) to store its indexes.
discussion: [email protected]
bugs: [email protected]
ports: most version of unix (except SCO)
restrictions: permission required for commercial use.
author: Liam R. E. Quin
how to get: ftp pub/lq-text*.tar.Z from relay.cs.toronto.edu
updated: 1993/12/10

name: qt (Query Text)
version: 0.1
interfaces: unix command line
access methods: ?
multiuser: no
distributed: no
query language: unix command line
index size: ?
limits: ?
robustness: ?
description: Qt creates, maintains, and queries a full text database. The
database file system is organized as an inverted index. The
program is written as a single script, in Bourne Shell, and
permits simple natural language queries.
[qt appears to be easier to use than lq-text and wais --muir]
bugs: author
ports: Unix, SysV.4, AIX, OSF/1, etc.
author: John Conover
how to get: comp.sources.unix volume 27
updated: 1993/10/18

name: SMART
version: 11.0
interfaces: terminal, X (slightly oder version), and several
under development including Z39.50
access methods: inverted file search or sequential search
multiuser: yes, but last writer wins when there are update conflicts
distributed: In-house version, to be made public in fall
query language: Natural language
index size: approx 40% of original text.
limits: Can only handle roughly 4 Gbytes of text in
non-distributed version.
robustness: Research tool; parts have been well-tested but others not.
description: SMART is an implementation of the vector-space model of
information retrieval proposed by Salton back in the 60's. The
primary purpose of SMART is to provide a framework in which to
conduct information retrieval research. Standard versions of
indexing, retrieval, and evaluation are provided.
The system is designed to be used for small to medium scale
collections, and offers reasonable speed and support for these
actual applications.
SMART analyses the collection of information and builds
indexes. It can then be used to build natural-language based
information retrieval software. It uses feedback from the
user to tighten its search.
restrictions: Research use only.
discussion: [email protected]
ports: Unix (works under Linux, does not work under Ultrix, ?)
contact:
how to get: ftp pub/smart/* from ftp.cs.cornell.edu
updated: 1992/07/21

name: WAIS (Wide Area Information Server)
version: 8 b5.1
interfaces: the wais protocol (Z39.50)
access methods: inverted string index
multiuser: read only
distributed: client/server
query language: natural language, boolean, Relevance Feedback
index size: roughtly = data size
limits: "none"
robustness: fairly high
description: There are three main components: WAISINDEX, WAISSERVER, and
WAISSEARCH.
WAISINDEX creates an inverted file index. WAISINDEX includes
filters for a number of common file formats.
WAISSERVER listens for Z39.50 packets and tries to answer
them.
WAISSEARCH is the user agent that talks to WAISSERVERs. There
are several front ends: shell, X, and emacs.
announcements: [email protected]
discussion: [email protected]
ports: vax, sun-3, sun-4, NeXT, sysV
restriction: commercial version exists, contact [email protected]
author: Harry Morris , Brewster Kahle
, Jonny Goldman
how to get: ftp pub/freeware/unix-src/* from wais.com
updated: 1992/11/16

---------------------------------------------------------------------------
--------------------------- interfaces ------------------------------------
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

name: CB++
version: 0.1
interface from: C/C++
interface to: SunOS/Oracle (DOS+Windows/Oracle,Gupta, OS/2 Sybase)
description: CB++ provides a plain C/C++ interface (not embedded) for SQL
database server access. It was written in 1989 as a basis for
storing C++ objects in a relational database. It is very
simple to use and makes applications portable among different
SQL databases. The library itself is relatively easy to port
as the database vendor specific code is separated into a single
C++ class which makes up only a limited part of the library.
The author supports the current SunOS/Oracle version and
server ports to other UNIX databases (DOS-, Windows-, OS/2-stuff
is provided as it is and no longer supported)
requires: C++
ports: Oracle 6 for SunOS 4.1.3,
Gupta SQL Server for DOS/MS-Windows, OS/2 SQL Server
author: Bernhard Strassl
how to get: ftp contrib/CB++.0.1.tar.Z from ftp.x.org
updated: 1993/10/05

name: DSQL
version: 3.0
interface from: Unix, Macintosh, MS-DOS, MS-Windows, and Macintosh Hypercard
interface to: Unix/Informix, VMS/Oracle
description: DSQL is a simple client/server protocol to support remote
access of SQL databases. DSQL was designed in response to a
perceived need at Genentech to provide graphical front-ends on
Macintosh computers to Informix relational databases running on
Unix servers. DSQL version 3 is distributed with 2 server
implementations and four client library implementations. The
API for the client libraries has been standardized, and the
client code is divided into portable and architecture-specific
portions.
requires: ?
ports: Mac, PC, Unix
author: The Genentech Scientific Computing Technology Development
group. Original authors: David Mischel, Terry Oberzeir,
Scooter Morris , Kathryn Woods.
Current team: Jim Fitzgerald, David Mischel, Scooter Morris,
Terry Oberzier, and Dan Lamb (VMS/Oracle).
contact: ?
how to get: ftp pub/dsql.3.tar.Z from cgl.ucsf.edu
updated: 1993/06/25

name: Isqlperl
version: 1.1
interface from: perl
interface to: Informix
limits: Maximum concurrently open cursors configured at build time.
descritpion: Isqlperl is a set of user subroutines to enable Perl programs to
access Informix databases.
requires: Perl 4.035 or higher, Informix ESQL/C (Online, SE, or Turbo)
discussion: [email protected]
restrictions: GNU Public License
author: Bill Hails
how to get: ftp pub/perl/db/isqlperl/isqlperl-1.1.shar.Z
from ftp.demon.co.uk
updated: 1993/10/02

name: Isqltcl ?
version: ?
interface from: tcl
interface to: Informix
description: Isqltcl is an extension to Tool Command Language (Tcl) that
provides access to an Informix database server. Isqltcl adds
additional Tcl commands that login to an Informix Server, pass
SQL code, read results, etc.
requires: ?
discussion: comp.lang.tcl
author: Srinivas Kumar
how to get: ftp tcl/extensions/isqltcl.tar.Z from harbor.ecn.purdue.edu
updated: 1993/09/15

name: Interperl
version: ?
interface from: perl
interface to: Interbase
descritpion: Interperl is a set of user subroutines to enable Perl programs
to access Interbase databases.
requires: Perl 3.027 or higher, ?
discussion: [email protected]
author: Buzz Moschetti
how to get: ftp pub/perl/db/interperl/? from ftp.demon.co.uk
updated: ?

name: Onyx
version: second alpha
interface from: a 4GL
interface to: Informix, Ingres89, GSQL
description: Onyx is a 4gl. It is meant for prototyping and delivering
database applications. It includes a protocol for addressing
and accessing sql servers: gsqld.
GSQL is a minimal SQL server written in gawk (included).
Onyx tries to make it very easy to write applications that:
use internal tables to store temporary data, use masks to
view and edit the temporary data, and use transactions between
the internal tables and the rest of the world. Transactions
can be bound to a menu or an input field.
Onyx also provides interfaces to the shell so that database
appliations can use unix pipes and shell scripts.
ports: Linux
author: Michael Kraehe
how to get: ftp pub/source/Onyx-alpha2.tar.gz from idiom.berkeley.ca.us
updated: 1993/12/25

name: Oraperl
version: ?
interface from: perl
interface to: Oracle
descritpion: Oraperl is a set of user subroutines to enable Perl programs to
access Oracle databases.
requires: Perl 3.027 or higher, Oracle Pro*C
discussion: [email protected]
author: Kevin Stock
how to get: ftp pub/perl/db/oraperl/? from ftp.demon.co.uk
updated: ?

name: Oratcl
version: 2.0
interface from: TCL
interface to: Oracle
description: Oratcl is an extension to Tool Command Language (Tcl) that
provides access to a Oracle Database server. Oratcl adds
additional Tcl commands that login to an Oracle Server, pass
SQL code, read results, etc. Oratcl was inspired by similar
tools written for Perl (sybperl, oraperl) but was written from
scratch instead of borrowing on the work of either Perl
extension.
requires: Tcl 6.7, Tk 3.2, Oracle OCI libraries 1.5,
Oracle SQL Server Version 6 or Version 7
discussion: comp.lang.tcl
author: Tom Poindexter
how to get: ftp pub/tcl/extensions/oratcl-2.0.tar.Z
from harbor.ecn.purdue.edu
updated: 1993/12/03

name: pgperl
version: ?
interface from: perl
interface to: Postgres
descritpion: pgperl is a set of user subroutines to enable Perl programs to
access Postgres databases.
requires: Perl 3.027 or higher, ?
discussion: [email protected]
author: Igor Metz
how to get: ftp pub/perl/db/pgperl/? from ftp.demon.co.uk
updated: ?

name: Sqlperl
interface from: perl
interface to: Ingres
descritpion: Sqlperl is a set of user subroutines to enable Perl programs to
access Ingres databases.
requires: Perl 3.027 or higher, ?
discussion: [email protected]
author: Ted Lemon
how to get: ftp pub/perl/db/sqlperl/? from ftp.demon.co.uk
updated: ?

name: Sybperl
version: 1.009
interface from: perl
interface to: Sybase
descritpion: Sybperl is a set of user subroutines to enable Perl programs to
access Sybase databases.
requires: Perl 3.027 or higher, ?
discussion: [email protected]
author: Michael Peppler
how to get: ftp pub/perl/db/sybperl/sybperl-1.009.* from ftp.demon.co.uk
updated: 1993/10/10

name: Sybtcl
version: 2.0
interface from: TCL
interface to: Sybase
description: Sybtcl is an extension to Tool Command Language (Tcl) that
provides access to a Sybase Database server. Sybtcl adds
additional Tcl commands that login to a SQL Server, pass SQL
code, read results, etc. Sybtcl was inspired by similar tools
written for Perl (sybperl, oraperl) but was written from
scratch instead of borrowing on the work of either Perl
extension.
requires: Sybase Open Client (DB-Library), Sybase SQL Server
discussion: comp.lang.tcl
author: Tom Poindexter
how to get: ftp tcl/extensions/sybtcl-2.0.tar.Z from harbor.ecn.purdue.edu
updated: 1993/12/03

name: Uniperl
version: ?
interface from: perl
interface to: Unify 5.0
descritpion: Uniperl is a set of user subroutines to enable Perl programs to
access Unify databases.
requires: Perl 3.027 or higher, ?
discussion: [email protected]
author: Rick Wargo
how to get: ftp pub/perl/db/uniperl/? from ftp.demon.co.uk
updated: ?

---------------------------------------------------------------------------
--------------------------- other -----------------------------------------
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

name: _lex & yacc_ by Levine, Mason & Brown published by O'Reilly
version: ?
parts: grammar
description: In _lex & yacc_, by Levine, Mason & Brown an SQL parser
is included as an example grammar
author: Levine, Mason & Brown
how to get: buy the book, or ftp published/oreilly/nutshell/lexyacc/?
from ftp.uu.net.
updated: ?

name: examples from: "Information Retrieval, Data Structures & Algorithms,"
William B. Frakes, Ricardo Baeza-Yates, Editors, Prentice
Hall, Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey 07632, 1992, ISBN 0-13-463837-9.
version: ?
descriptions: example code from the book "Information Retrieval, Data Structures
& Algorithms"
how to get: ftp pub/reuse/ircode.tar.Z from ftp.vt.edu
author: [resumably William B. Frakes, Ricardo Baeza-Yates]
updated: ?

name: MultiCal
version: 1.0
interfaces: ?
access methods: ?
multiuser: no
transactions: no
distributed: no
query language: enhanced SQL2
index size: ?
limits: ?
robustness: the DBMS component "eschews ... disk access methods"
description: MultiCal is both a novel approach to supporting multiple
calendars and internationalization of time constants and a
query processor prototype that demonstrates this approach.
MultiCal consists of about 48K source lines of C code; the
query processor prototype consists of about 63K source lines of
code. The documentation consists of fifteen documents,
comprising some 300 pages of material.
MultiCal consists of an approach to providing limited
extensibility for support of multiple calendars and languages
for temporal support within a database management system
(DBMS). We have augmented the Structured Query Language (SQL),
specifically, SQL2, with time values, i.e., temporal
constants. Our approach is notable in that we allow many
different calendars to be used in the database management
system, and we incorporate only calendar-independent constructs
into the language. We introduce three new temporal data types.
New language features are defined for temporal built-in
functions, special time values, arithmetic expressions
involving time, temporal predicates, and aggregate functions
over time. Ten languages are supported.
To illustrate how an existing DBMS could be augmented to
support multiple calendars, we provide a prototype DBMS that
supports the proposed extensions. This prototype consists of
query analysis and execution components. It eschews traditional
functionality such as concurrency control and disk access
methods, as these aspects are not relevant to timestamp
management.
ports: Sun4
contact: or Rick Snodgrass
how to get: ftp tsql/multical/* from ftp.cs.arizona.edu
updated: 1993/10/30

name: dbf (xbase manipulation package)
version: ?
interfaces: command line
access methods: ?
multiuser: no
transactions: no
distributed: no
query language: none
limits: ?
robustness: ?
description: DBF is a set of tools and library routines to manipulate xbase
files. The tools allow xbase files to be created and
manipulated from the command line.
author: Brad Eacker
how to get: comp.sources.misc volume 40
updated: 1993/11/01





  3 Responses to “Category : Information about the Internet from the early 1990's
Archive   : FREEDB.ZIP
Filename : FREEDB.TXT

  1. Very nice! Thank you for this wonderful archive. I wonder why I found it only now. Long live the BBS file archives!

  2. This is so awesome! 😀 I’d be cool if you could download an entire archive of this at once, though.

  3. But one thing that puzzles me is the “mtswslnkmcjklsdlsbdmMICROSOFT” string. There is an article about it here. It is definitely worth a read: http://www.os2museum.com/wp/mtswslnk/