Pervasive PSQL Summit v10 Product Information

Various sets of updates were made for the v10.30 product to provide critical bug fixes for users. We recommend patching to the newest available version, but if you must stay on v10.3x for some reason, these patches may come in handy. You must be on a MINIMUM of v10.30 before applying these patches.

Pervasive Software released SP3 in November 2009, which offers bug fixes since v10.20, as well as the following new features.

• Windows 7 Support: Some minor changes were needed to work with Windows 7, and these are now included in the product.
• Product Activation: All shrinkwrap product will now use the new product activation license format.
• Trial Key Change (Again): It appears that Pervasive is reversing their decision on the deployment of trial keys. The new v10.30 trials will all be 30-days from the date of installation once again.
• XIO Cache Changes: XIO now requires 4GB of RAM or higher.

Various sets of updates were made for the v10.20 product before the release of Service Pack 3 (v10.30). These updates provided critical bug fixes for users, but have all been superceded by the v10.30 release. We recommend patching to the newest available version, but if you must stay on v10.2x for some reason, these patches may come in handy. You must be on a MINIMUM of v10.10 before applying these patches.

Pervasive PSQL v10.20 started shipping in July 2009. This latest release includes a roll-up of all fixes since v10.10, and it also the following new features:

• New Numeric COBOL Data Types: Three new data types were added for AcuCobol developers, namely the NUMERICSLB, NUMERICSLS, and NUMERICSTB.
• Millisecond Support in TIMESTAMP and DATETIME fields: Previous versions always reported 0 milliseconds. This release now allows functions to provide the milliseconds value.
• Samba Dependency Eliminated: Linux users no longer need to have Samba configured.

This update is available in TWO different forms. The first form is a patch update, which is viable for all sites running PSQLv10.10 or newer. This is a very small download and includes only the changed files. At the same time, Pervasive released a new FULL INSTALL package for v10.20 to update the trial download. This full install can be used to install the trial, or to directly update v10.0x systems.

Various sets of updates were made for the v10.10 product before the release of Service Pack 2 (v10.20). These updates provided critical bug fixes for users, but have all been superceded by the v10.20 release. We recommend patching to the newest available version, but if you must stay on v10.1x for some reason, these patches may come in handy. Users of v10.0x will need to patch to v10.10 before applying this patch.

One big change made when moving to the v10.13 code base is the elimination of static 30-day trial keys. Instead, Pervasive switched to new "activation" keys, which are 25-character keys (instead of the old 24-character keys). Activation keys are valid from the date of download, NOT from the date of installation. Further, newer releases use their new electronic licensing system (ELS) to verify that each trial license is only installed ONE time. This makes it impossible for ISV's and resellers to maintain a set of install keys for trial use, and requires that each customer download his own trial key. Please plan accordingly!

Pervasive PSQL v10.10, also known as Service Pack 1, was released in early 2008 as a free update for PSQLv10 users. This service pack rolls up the bug fixes from the v10.01 updates and includes the following new features:

• Windows Server 2008 Certification: The database components have been tested and received Microsoft certification for Windows Server 2008 and Vista SP1.
• Linux Support: While v10.00 did not have a Linux release, the v10.10 update marks the inclusion of Linux support once again in the product line. Pervasive added compatibility with Red Hat Enterprise Linux and SUSE Linux Enterprise platforms, along with other Linux Systems (Kernel 2.6.0 or higher), in both 32-bit and 64-bit environments, with options for complete and "core" installations, as well as the Linux Heartbeat, for cluster operations.
• New User Count Increase Licensing: Pervasive has changed the license configuration starting with v10.10. Instead of being able to stack ANY licenses together to create a larger user count, you now MUST purchase ONE (and only one) BASE license, and then use special User Count Increase SKU's to add more users to the server engine. Failure to do this will result in a missing license when you upgrade or patch the system to v10.10 or above. Pervasive can exchange a full engine license for a UCI if needed by contacting them directly.
• New Encoding Options: You now have increased code page options for international users.
• Long Owner Name Support: Pervasive now allows you to use a stronger, 24-character owner name as protection on Btrieve files.
• Updated Tools: Several tools were updated for new capabilities, including the DDF Builder.
• SQL Syntax Changes: Pervasive added the following capabilities in the SQL Engine:
  • INSERT statements can now use UNION, UNION ALL, and ORDER BY.
  • SELECT INTO now supports real tables in addition to temporary tables.
  • SOUNDEX support has been added.
• PCC Improvements: Pervasive added the following in the Pervasive Control Center:
  • The PCC grid is now much faster, and allows limiting the data set.
  • Grid can display larger data sets.
  • Ctrl-Home and Ctrl-End now jump to the start or end of the data set.
  • Number of rows in the data set is shown in the tool bar.
  • Export Table Schema capability has been added (finally!).
• Security Solutions: PSQLv10 now works with Backup Agent v2.0 and DataExchange v3.0, and the Backup Agent works with Workgroup Engines for the first time.

And more!

Various sets of updates were made for the v10.00 product before the release of Service Pack 1 (v10.10). These updates provided critical bug fixes for users, but have all been superceded by the v10.10 release. We recommend patching to the newest available version, but if you must stay on v10.00 for some reason, these patches may come in handy.

Released in September 2007, the FCS (First Customer Ship) product build offers a lot of new features to users of older PSQL versions. This release includes the following features:

• Vista Support: The installation location for the engine and client components and tools have been changed to make the software Vista compliant. This will make implementing Vista workstations MUCH easier for system administrators and end users. Additional changes to the way the registry is handled will make it easier to use Vista for Pervasive applications. For an idea of which changes were required, check the Pervasive Vista White Paper, available on their web site. See our Vista support page for more information.
• 64-Bit Support: The database client and the server engine are now available in 64-bit editions for use on Windows 2003 Server and Vista 64-bit operating systems. This increases the memory capabilities , and may also provide substantial performance gains on newer hardware. New 64-bit components include the DTI/DTO and Btrieve Client, as well as the MKDE. The SQL Engine (SRDE) is still 32-bit. The Workgroup Engine is only available in a 32-bit version at this time.
• Performance: Pervasive introduces a new caching system, known as Xtreme I/O (XIO) in this release. This new driver is available on 32-bit systems with 2GB of RAM or more and running Vista, Windows 2003 Server, or Windows 2000 Server. It is designed to provide additional "smart" caching capabilities to cache Pervasive data files in extended memory that is normally inaccessible to the database engine. This should improve performance of large systems. Of course, 64-bit systems will have FULL use of the entire memory space to optimize performance.
• New Installer: The new MSI-based installer is a great plus for application developers who want to embed the software with their own code. This installer should make it easier for end users to install v10, with fewer installation headaches.
• New DDF Format: The ability to support "V2 Metadata" blows away most of the limitations of the old data dictionary formats. This includes longer names and higher limitations on the data dictionaries (i.e. system catalog). Users of the database at the pure SQL level will LOVE this feature! A conversion tool is provided to easily convert your existing DDF's to the new V2 format. Goldstar Software has already started building a library of tools to work with the V2 Metadata, and a new version of FPrint is already available!
• Improved SQL Syntax: Pervasive Software continues to improve its support of SQL, adding some new features to the Relational Engine.
  • Remember the old "CREATE DATABASE" statement, which used to be in PSQL7? It's BACK, along with a DROP DATABASE statement!
  • We can now do a "partial index", indexing just a portion of a CHAR or VARCHAR field.
  • ORDER BY clauses are now valid in Views
  • A new variable @@SESSIONID is now available to uniquely identify the database session to applications.
  • Security is now available for Views and Stored Procedures.
• A New DDF Builder: Pervasive has released a new DDF Builder v4.5 for this product release . The new and improved DDF Builder makes it even easier to work with and clean up existing data dictionaries.
• Query Plan Viewer: This longstanding tool is finally getting its due -- documentation and OFFICIAL support! If you like the Query Plan Viewer, you'll LOVE Goldstar Software's ParseQPF utility, that quickly and easily extracts SQL statements from the query plan file for you!
• Page Compression : With the addition of page compression, users can store more and more information, but yet keep the database smaller and more compact, making it also more efficient in terms of storage. With today's fast CPU's, this may also improve performance for some systems! Goldstar Software's repair utilities will NOT handle a page-compressed file at this time. Support may or may not be available for this in the future.
• Terminal Services Support : You can now install and support the system via Terminal Services (a.k.a. Remote Desktop). The improved support for Terminal Services should also make it easier to track licensing in this environment.
• New Internet/Intranet Licensing: If you run Pervasive with a web server or other front-end that "hides" the actual number of users, you can now get the Internet/Intranet license on a Per Server basis, instead of a Per CPU basis.

This is a paid upgrade to previous versions (PSQLv9 and earlier). If you are running the v10.00 code (FCS), then we strongly recommend upgrading to the latest patches, if possible.

Q: My vendor doesn't support the new version yet. What can I do?
A: You can still purchase Pervasive PSQL v9, which will be supported for at least 18 months after the release of Pervasive PSQL Summit v10. Then, you can choose to upgrade the engine later on, if needed. To help prod those developers developers taking their sweet time in testing the new version, Pervasive Software increased the price of the PSQLv9 licenses by 20% and discontinued product upgrade discounts to PSQLv9 from versions older than PSQLV8.

Q: Is Pervasive PSQL v10 backward compatible with my older applications?
A: In many cases, yes. Note that 16-bit applications are no longer officially supported, though. You can get around this by using our special Requester Patch Pack (scroll all the way down).

Q: If my application worked on PSQLv9, will it work on v10?
A: It is always a good idea to test your own applications. The new features can easily be ignored by older applications. One noted issue may result in the reduced support for page sizes, since fewer page sizes are now supported (1K, 2K, 4K, 8K, and 16K). Older apps should be transparent to the page size changes, but we've seen at least ONE application that can be sensitive to these changes. Also, older applications that do a BUTIL -STAT operation on tables may experience some problems with files over 119 key segments -- so be careful.

Q: Are all of the Ecosystem products (AuditMaster, DataExchange, Backup Agent) supported on Pervasive PSQL v10?
A: Not all versions are supported. See our Ecosystem pages for Backup Agent, AuditMaster, and DataExchange for details on compatibility for each product.

Q: I'm running a small site on a server running Windows XP, but the Pervasive support matrix shows that XP is not supported for the Server Engine. Is this correct?
A: Yes. Officially, the Version 10 Server component is not supported on the Windows XP platform. This is because the Microsoft EULA states an end-user-type machine cannot run server-type software in an XP environment. Additionally, the Windows XP environment might limit the amount of connections to the XP machine running as a Server. We do, however, have customers that run v10 Server successfully in the XP environment with no known issues. If you were to use this setup, only the Pervasive portion would be supported. If there was ever an issue with the XP Operating System and Pervasive not functioning together, it would not be supported by Pervasive.

Q: Is Pervasive PSQL v10 supported on Windows Vista?
A: Yes! Pervasive Software has modified their installation to be Microsoft Windows Vista compliant. You can run the 32-bit Workgroup Engine, or the 32-bit or 64-bit Server Engines in a license count of 6 or 10 (to maintain compatibility with the Microsoft EULA). Separate SKU's are available for Vista users to highlight this limitation, though they have the same functionality as the primary Server Engine SKU's.

Q: Is Pervasive PSQL v10 supported on Windows 7?
A: Very soon, Pervasive will release the v10.30 Update. At this time, the product will be formally supported on Windows 7 and Windows 2008 Server R2.

Q: Is there a Voluntary Product Accessibility Template for Pervasive PSQL v10?
A: Yes! Here is the VPAT document, often needed for US Government buyers.