firebirdsql/firebird repository overview

⁠firebird-docker

Docker images for Firebird Database.

⁠Quick reference

• Quick Start Guide⁠
• Language Reference⁠
• Release Notes⁠

⁠How to use this image

Image defaults:

• EXPOSE 3050/tcp
• VOLUME /var/lib/firebird/data

⁠Start a Firebird server instance

docker run \
    -e FIREBIRD_ROOT_PASSWORD=************ \
    -e FIREBIRD_USER=alice \
    -e FIREBIRD_PASSWORD=************ \
    -e FIREBIRD_DATABASE=mirror.fdb \
    -e FIREBIRD_DATABASE_DEFAULT_CHARSET=UTF8 \
    -v ./data:/var/lib/firebird/data
    --detach firebirdsql/firebird

⁠Using Docker Compose⁠

services:
  firebird:
    image: firebirdsql/firebird
    restart: always
    environment:
      - FIREBIRD_ROOT_PASSWORD=************
      - FIREBIRD_USER=alice
      - FIREBIRD_PASSWORD=************
      - FIREBIRD_DATABASE=mirror.fdb
      - FIREBIRD_DATABASE_DEFAULT_CHARSET=UTF8
    volumes:
      - ./data:/var/lib/firebird/data

⁠Connect to an existing instance using isql

docker run -it --rm firebirdsql/firebird isql -u SYSDBA -p ************ SERVER:/path/to/file.fdb

⁠Environment variables

The following environment variables can be used to customize the container.

⁠FIREBIRD_ROOT_PASSWORD

Firebird installer generates a one-off password for SYSDBA and stores it in /opt/firebird/SYSDBA.password.

If FIREBIRD_ROOT_PASSWORD is set, SYSDBA password will be changed. And the file /opt/firebird/SYSDBA.password will be removed.

⁠FIREBIRD_USER

Creates an user in Firebird security database.

You must inform a password in FIREBIRD_PASSWORD variable. Otherwise the container initialization will fail.

⁠FIREBIRD_DATABASE

Creates a new database. Ignored if the database already exists.

Database location is /var/lib/firebird/data. Absolute paths (outside this folder) are allowed.

You may use FIREBIRD_DATABASE_PAGE_SIZE to set the database page size. And FIREBIRD_DATABASE_DEFAULT_CHARSET to set the default character set.

⁠FIREBIRD_USE_LEGACY_AUTH

Enables legacy authentication⁠ (not recommended).

⁠FIREBIRD_CONF_*

Any variable starting with FIREBIRD_CONF_ can be used to set values in Firebird configuration file (firebird.conf).

E.g. You can use FIREBIRD_CONF_DataTypeCompatibility=3.0 to set the value of key DataTypeCompatibility to 3.0 in firebird.conf.

Please note that keys are case sensitive. And any key not present in firebird.conf will be ignored.

⁠*_FILE

Any of the previously listed environment variables may be loaded from file by appending the _FILE suffix to the variable name.

E.g. FIREBIRD_PASSWORD_FILE=/run/secrets/firebird-passwd will load FIREBIRD_PASSWORD with the content from /run/secrets/firebird-passwd file.

Note that both the original variable and its _FILE variant are mutually exclusive. Trying to use both will cause the container initialization to fail.

⁠Initializing the database contents

When creating a new database with FIREBIRD_DATABASE environment variable you can initialize it running one or more shell or SQL scripts.

Any file with extensions .sh, .sql, .sql.gz, .sql.xz and .sql.zst found in /docker-entrypoint-initdb.d/ will be executed in alphabetical order. .sh files without file execute permission (+x) will be sourced rather than executed.

IMPORTANT: Scripts will only run if you start the container with a data directory that is empty. Any pre-existing database will be left untouched on container startup.

⁠Setting container time zone

The container runs in the UTC time zone by default. To change this, you can set the TZ environment variable:

    environment:
      - TZ=America/New_York

Alternatively, you can use the same time zone as your host system by mapping the /etc/localtime and /etc/timezone system files:

    volumes:
      - /etc/localtime:/etc/localtime:ro
      - /etc/timezone:/etc/timezone:ro