Apache Derby

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Apache Derby is a project of Apache DB subproject. It is a fully java implemented open source relational database engine, provided under the Apache License, Version 2.0.

With small footprint of 2.6MB, it offers fully capable database engine with JDBC driver included. Apache Derby also provides well known server/client mode with the Derby Network Client JDBC driver and Derby Network Server.

Basics of Apache Derby

Since Apache Derby is completely written in Java, it requires JDK, java engine installed and is capable of handling java related services.

JDK version 1.4 or higher are required. Java version can be checked with command java -version from command prompt of host where Derby is about to be installed. We offer various derby hosting options to suit your needs.

Apache provides several distributions and ways for installing Derby, with binary and source distributions offered.

The distributions are:

The bin distribution contains scripts, demonstration programs, documentation, and the optimized .jar files. These .jar files are the same set of .jar files that are in the lib distribution.
The lib distribution contains an optimized, small footprint set of the Derby .jar files for deployment.
The lib-debug distribution contains a larger footprint set of the Derby .jar files that are useful for debugging or reporting issues.
The src distribution contains the source files that are used to create the bin, lib, and lib-debug distributions.

Following documentation will be for binary distribution and includes hyperlinks to official site of Apache Derby with their guides.

Once Derby binary distribution is downloaded, to host where it's going to be installed, archive has to be unpacked, either with zip or tar unpacking tools.

Extracting archive will create several folders :

demo: subdirectory contains the demonstration programs.

bin: subdirectory contains the scripts for executing utilities and setting up the environment.

javadoc: subdirectory contains the api documentation that was generated from source code comments.

docs: subdirectory contains the Derby documentation.

lib: subdirectory contains the Derby .jar files.

test: subdirectory contains regression tests for Derby.

Each of the created folders contain required files for Derby. Once everything is set and correctly started up, some demonstration applications are available for testing at demo folder.

Derby offers several ways of running the Derby tools and start-up utilities. In order to choose the right method for you, please view table created by Apache Derby developers.

If you are an experienced java developer, Derby offers start-up guide at section Quick start guide for experienced JDBC users.