fdb

What it is and what it does

FDB is a legacy Python driver that implements the DB API 2.0 standard for Firebird 2.5 databases. It provides connection pooling, query execution, and transaction management for Python applications that need to interact with older Firebird installations. The package has no external runtime dependencies and installs as a pure Python wheel, making it lightweight to add to an existing project.

The maintainers are explicit that this is a legacy driver no longer under active development. It offers limited support for Firebird 3.0 and does not support Firebird 4 or newer. If you are working with Firebird 3 or later, the official firebird-driver package is the recommended alternative. FDB is appropriate only for maintaining or extending existing applications tied to Firebird 2.5 or for legacy system integration where upgrading the database is not an option.

Use it for:

• Maintain or extend legacy Python applications that connect to existing Firebird 2.5 databases without upgrading the database engine
• Integrate Firebird 2.5 data sources into Python ETL pipelines or reporting tools where the database cannot be migrated
• Port older Python code written against Firebird to modern Python versions while keeping the database unchanged
• Query Firebird 2.5 databases from Python scripts in environments where the official driver is not available or compatible

Worth the install?

AI-flagged interpretation of the facts on this page — verify before relying

FDB is a Python Database API 2.0-compliant driver for connecting to and querying Firebird 2.5 relational databases, with limited support for Firebird 3.0.

Yes, but only if you are locked into Firebird 2.5 or have a specific legacy integration requirement. The package is stable and has no known vulnerabilities, but it is not actively maintained and development has stalled. If you have any flexibility to upgrade to Firebird 3 or newer, use the official firebird-driver instead. For new projects, do not choose this package.

Install

fdb on PyPI

pip install fdb

uv add fdb

poetry add fdb

Installing fdb

Before you install

Installation is straightforward with no runtime dependencies. However, the package is aging—last release was 388 days ago—and the maintainers explicitly state that development is not active and maintenance is very limited. For Firebird 3 or newer, the official firebird-driver is recommended instead.

License in practice

FDB is distributed under a permissive license (MIT per the description excerpt, though classifiers list BSD). You can use, modify, and distribute the software freely for any purpose without fee or royalty, provided copyright notices are retained.

Quickstart

pip install fdb

import fdb

conn = fdb.connect(dsn='localhost:/path/to/database.fdb',
                   user='sysdba', password='masterkey')
cur = conn.cursor()
cur.execute('SELECT * FROM my_table')
for row in cur.fetchall():
    print(row)
conn.close()

Firebird 2.5 or 3.0 database engine must be installed and accessible at the DSN path; the driver does not include the database server itself.

Verify before relying

• Whether Firebird 2.5 or 3.0 is actually installed and accessible on the target system (FDB does not bundle the database engine)
• Exact scope of Firebird 3.0 support limitations beyond the stated 'limited' qualifier
• Whether the package works reliably with modern Python versions despite classifiers listing only up to 3.6

Package facts

Evidence: fdb-2.0.4-py2.py3-none-any.whl

Keywords: Firebird, RDBMS, driver

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