6 ms·

Richard Hipp has said that they have signed contracts to support SQLite3 for 35 years. SQLite4 is never going to happen.

krylon 9y ago
Look at it this way: SQLite3 is (more or less) slowly becoming SQLite4, except for the parts that did not work out. It is not as shiny, but in the long run, you still get all the goodness. Nevermind the name / version number.
- jandrese 9y ago
  It's basically the Perl 5 of the DB world.
  - jzawodn 9y ago
    Perl 6 you mean?
    - tripa 9y ago
      I read that as: it gives the impression it's been here forever, it's still being actively maintained, and will be for the foreseeable future. Benefiting from the “future” (sqlite4/perl6) at a slow but steady peace. So, really like Perl 5.
    - mst 9y ago
      perl5 has been stealing a bunch of stuff from perl6 and is still actively maintained and doing a major release with new features annually - also continues to Just Work with an extreme commitment to backcompat. So I'm pretty sure he did mean perl5, and as a happy user of both perl5 and sqlite the comparison seems apt.
  - rurban 9y ago
    Not at all. perl5 is horrible tech, with no development and being actively destroyed by its maintainers. Whilst SQLite3 is at the very top of its class, with lots of new features, and very well maintained.
    - mst 9y ago
      For context, rurban has had a long-ongoing feud with the perl5 maintainers that eventually resulted in his removal from the mailing list for being unwilling or unable to disagree sufficiently civilly to hold an effective discussion when people felt he was technically incorrect. He's also, OTOH, a technically brilliant developer whose positive contributions will be missed. (also if you ever run into him at a conference, I'd recommend grabbing a beer with him, I've always enjoyed doing so in spite of our spirited disagreements over various things)
oh_sigh 9y ago
What kind of companies sign 35 year support contracts?
- bch 9y ago
  The kind that give away their product for free, give the company to their wife, develop an in-house distributed version control (fossil (which is excellent)), give that away for free and encourage other version control projects to please steal ideas from fossil. drh (Richard Hipp) is an interesting duck.
  - oh_sigh 9y ago
    Presumably Hipp doesn't sign a 35 year support contract with his own company?
- contingencies 9y ago
  Ones that have effectively 100% test coverage on their codebases, massive existing deployments, famous levels of documentation, and world expert level comprehension of their problem space.
- Spooky23 9y ago
  People who sell or support things with long lives where retrofitting is expensive or impossible. Example: industrial equipment, military stuff, bridges, aircraft, etc.
- foxylad 9y ago
  SQLite is used for small and embedded systems, which (if successful) can have very long lifetimes. If you were building something like an ATM for instance, you would be very sensible to sign a 35-year support contract for a crucial part of your system.
  - delinka 9y ago
    Have you seen an ATM? They're running Windows & SQL Server now. Microsoft isn't offering 35yr support contracts for Windows. This is only partially sarcastic.
manigandham 9y ago
I cant even imagine working on the same project for 35 years... let alone how different computing might be after that time.
- SolarNet 9y ago
  They rolled with it, they made their own source control system, as evidenced by the page that was linked.
- pythonaut_16 9y ago
  At the same time, given the quality of the code base and the test coverage, I can imagine supporting a code base that I believe in and am extremely proud of, and that is extremely popular and widely used, for 35 years.
- bluedino 9y ago
  We have production IBM iSeries code (AS/400) that has (c) 1977 in a bunch of places. The platform lives...
8ig8 9y ago
I love this section from their support page. Nothing like stability through 2050. https://www.hwaci.com/sw/sqlite/prosupport.html https://www.hwaci.com/sw/sqlite/prosupport.html > Paid support options and products are provided by Hipp, Wyrick & Company, Inc., (Hwaci), a Georgia corporation with headquarters in Charlotte, North Carolina and has been in business since 1992. Hwaci has an international team of employees and associates representing the best available talent. We are a 100% engineering company. There is no sales staff. Our goal is to provide outstanding service and honest advice without spin or sales-talk. > Hwaci is a small company but it is also closely held and debt-free and has low fixed costs, which means that it is largely immune to buy-outs, take-overs, and market down-turns. Hwaci intends to continue operating in its current form, and at roughly its current size until at least the year 2050. We expect to be here when you need us, even if that need is many years in the future.
- yegle 9y ago
  Dr. Hipp will be 89 years old in 2050 so he simply made a lifetime commitment.

krylon 9y ago

Look at it this way: SQLite3 is (more or less) slowly becoming SQLite4, except for the parts that did not work out. It is not as shiny, but in the long run, you still get all the goodness. Nevermind the name / version number.

jandrese 9y ago
It's basically the Perl 5 of the DB world.
- jzawodn 9y ago
  Perl 6 you mean?
  - tripa 9y ago
    I read that as: it gives the impression it's been here forever, it's still being actively maintained, and will be for the foreseeable future. Benefiting from the “future” (sqlite4/perl6) at a slow but steady peace. So, really like Perl 5.
  - mst 9y ago
    perl5 has been stealing a bunch of stuff from perl6 and is still actively maintained and doing a major release with new features annually - also continues to Just Work with an extreme commitment to backcompat. So I'm pretty sure he did mean perl5, and as a happy user of both perl5 and sqlite the comparison seems apt.
- rurban 9y ago
  Not at all. perl5 is horrible tech, with no development and being actively destroyed by its maintainers. Whilst SQLite3 is at the very top of its class, with lots of new features, and very well maintained.
  - mst 9y ago
    For context, rurban has had a long-ongoing feud with the perl5 maintainers that eventually resulted in his removal from the mailing list for being unwilling or unable to disagree sufficiently civilly to hold an effective discussion when people felt he was technically incorrect. He's also, OTOH, a technically brilliant developer whose positive contributions will be missed. (also if you ever run into him at a conference, I'd recommend grabbing a beer with him, I've always enjoyed doing so in spite of our spirited disagreements over various things)

oh_sigh 9y ago

What kind of companies sign 35 year support contracts?

bch 9y ago
The kind that give away their product for free, give the company to their wife, develop an in-house distributed version control (fossil (which is excellent)), give that away for free and encourage other version control projects to please steal ideas from fossil. drh (Richard Hipp) is an interesting duck.
- oh_sigh 9y ago
  Presumably Hipp doesn't sign a 35 year support contract with his own company?
contingencies 9y ago
Ones that have effectively 100% test coverage on their codebases, massive existing deployments, famous levels of documentation, and world expert level comprehension of their problem space.
Spooky23 9y ago
People who sell or support things with long lives where retrofitting is expensive or impossible. Example: industrial equipment, military stuff, bridges, aircraft, etc.
foxylad 9y ago
SQLite is used for small and embedded systems, which (if successful) can have very long lifetimes. If you were building something like an ATM for instance, you would be very sensible to sign a 35-year support contract for a crucial part of your system.
- delinka 9y ago
  Have you seen an ATM? They're running Windows & SQL Server now. Microsoft isn't offering 35yr support contracts for Windows. This is only partially sarcastic.

manigandham 9y ago

I cant even imagine working on the same project for 35 years... let alone how different computing might be after that time.

SolarNet 9y ago
They rolled with it, they made their own source control system, as evidenced by the page that was linked.
pythonaut_16 9y ago
At the same time, given the quality of the code base and the test coverage, I can imagine supporting a code base that I believe in and am extremely proud of, and that is extremely popular and widely used, for 35 years.
bluedino 9y ago
We have production IBM iSeries code (AS/400) that has (c) 1977 in a bunch of places. The platform lives...

8ig8 9y ago

I love this section from their support page. Nothing like stability through 2050. https://www.hwaci.com/sw/sqlite/prosupport.html https://www.hwaci.com/sw/sqlite/prosupport.html > Paid support options and products are provided by Hipp, Wyrick & Company, Inc., (Hwaci), a Georgia corporation with headquarters in Charlotte, North Carolina and has been in business since 1992. Hwaci has an international team of employees and associates representing the best available talent. We are a 100% engineering company. There is no sales staff. Our goal is to provide outstanding service and honest advice without spin or sales-talk. > Hwaci is a small company but it is also closely held and debt-free and has low fixed costs, which means that it is largely immune to buy-outs, take-overs, and market down-turns. Hwaci intends to continue operating in its current form, and at roughly its current size until at least the year 2050. We expect to be here when you need us, even if that need is many years in the future.

yegle 9y ago
Dr. Hipp will be 89 years old in 2050 so he simply made a lifetime commitment.