Re: iOS database within sandbox
Re: iOS database within sandbox
- Subject: Re: iOS database within sandbox
- From: Jens Alfke <email@hidden>
- Date: Sat, 23 Aug 2014 11:37:51 -0700
> On Aug 23, 2014, at 9:57 AM, Carl Hoefs <email@hidden> wrote:
>
> However, specifically on iOS, I take it that SQLite is the *only* database available
It's the only one built into the OS with a public API. But there are a lot of options if you're willing to build and link in your own database — Tokyo Cabinet, LevelDB, etc. Most database engines are very portable, because they don't use any OS facilities other than the filesystem and maybe threads. On the other hand, SQLite is attractive because the effective code size is zero, there are a number of Objective-C bindings, and it's proven extremely reliable over many years.
Realm has a nice API, but I am skeptical of it because the database engine itself (tightdb) is closed-source and there is no public information about it. (Realm itself is open source, but if you look closely at the code you find that it's a thin Objective-C wrapper over a C++ database engine that the build system downloads as a precompiled static library.) I would not feel comfortable shipping an app based on a database engine whose source isn't available, where there's no information about future support, and which has an unknown track record of stability. Worst-case scenario is they go out of business, tightdb stops working in some future OS version, and you're SOL.
(But take that with a grain of salt, because I work on a somewhat-competing [and open-source] database, Couchbase Lite, so I'm hardly unbiased.)
—Jens
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