[Lazarus] Embedded Firebird bundled with OSX application

[Graeme Geldenhuys]

On 2015-06-22 18:46, Dmitry Boyarintsev wrote:
> Just "Frameworks" directory needs to be created, within "Contents"
> directory.
> Put firebird framework/dynamic library there and that's
> it.

Yes and no - according to all the blog posts I've read. The required
embedded library is missing from the official OSX package. They all
recommend building your own Embedded Firebird from the source (why they
don't included this as standard with a release I don't know). There lies
half the problem. Trying to get Firebird to compile under OSX. I have
found 10+ different instructions and none of them work on my Macbook
Pro. I've installed XCode and everything else that was mentioned, but no
luck.

Then after the compilation is complete, you need to run a tool called
'install_name_tool' on all the files, which patches them by changing the
hard-coded library location from
/Library/Frameworks/Firebird.framework/..../ to whatever the new
location is in your application bundle. If you don't do this, then
apparently applications and supporting tools will always look for the
libraries in /Library/Frameworks/Firebird.framework/

It seems there is a demand for Embedded Firebird, but neither the
official FirebirdSql.org nor anybody else wants to share a pre-built
bundle. They expect everybody to always build Firebird from source and
struggle for days on end with no clear/working instructions. The
firebirdsql.org shows in their OSX download section "Classic,
SuperClassic & Embedded (Intel)", but after installing that pkg there is
no sign of a libfbembed.dylib file anywhere. So somebody seems to have
forgotten something.

I've already wasted quite a few days on this, and now trying to use
SQLite3 with this application instead. Apparently SQLite3 comes standard
with OSX since 10.4, so this should be a usable solution. I'll come back
to the Embedded Firebird issue at a later date, as that would still be
the preferred option in the end.

I'll update the Lazarus Wiki will all the information I found - that
would hopefully save somebody else a lot of time searching on the internet.

Regards,
  - Graeme -

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