=head1 NAME

firebird - Firebird server

=head1 SYNOPSIS

    firebird [<option>...]

=head1 DESCRIPTION

B<firebird> is the main process of the Firebird RDBMS server. It has three modes of operation:

=over

=item single-process

This is the same as the I<superserver> flavour of version 2.5 and before. It
consists of a single listener process that handles all connections. It is
single-threaded and therefore is capable of using only one CPU. All connections
use shared cache to database pages. A crash in the code handling a connection
brings down the whole server.

=item standalone classic

This is the same as the I<superclassic> flavour of the 2.5 version. A single
listener process spawns a new thread for each connection. It is capable of
utilizing multiple CPUs. The database cache is not shared between connections.
The inter-process communication is pretty fast because all threads reside in
the same process. A crash in the code handling a connection brings down the
whole server.

=item Internet "super-server" handler

This is the same as the I<classic> flavour of version 2.5 and before. Each
connection is handled by a separate B<fireird> process, spawned by the Internet
super-server (e.g. inetd or xinetd). It is capable of utilizing multiple CPUs.
The database cache is not shared and the inter-process communication is slower
than the other operational modes. In this mode, a crash caused by one
connection doesn't bring down the whole server, but only the crashed instance.

=back

=head1 OPTIONS

=over

=item B<-d>

Turn debugging on

=item B<-s>

Use B<standalone classic> mode of operation.

=item B<-i>

Use B<single process> mode of operation.

=item B<-p> I<port>

specify listening port number or protocol name

=item B<-h>

=item B<-?>

Print short usage information

=item B<-e> F<dir>

Specify the path to the Firebird root directory.

=item B<-el> F<dir>

Specify the path to the lock directory.

=item B<-em> F<dir>

Specify the path to the directory containing the messages file.

=item B<-z>

Print version information and exit

=back

=head1 AUTHOR & COPYRIGHT

Copyright (C) 2009, 2010, Damyan Ivanov.

This manpage was written by Damyan Ivanov for the Debian project but may be
used by others. Permission is granted to use this document, with or without
modifications, provided that this notice is retained. If we meet some day, and
you think this stuff is worth it, you can buy me a beer in return.
