Defining Essential and Non-Essential Firebird Files

Deleting non-essential Files inside the Firebird directory folder will reduce the storage space needed and it will also help improve performance when running a database. Besides that, it's important knowledge to understand why it's important to understand various file types so you can choose the appropriate one for your tasks.

• The Document directory folder holds all the documentation Read Me files and Firebird Release notes. Unless you intend to read the documentation, which is unlikely, you do not need to have this.
• The Examples directory folder holds a lot of examples, but they are not really needed unless you intend to use them, so it is not necessary to have them.
• You can delete the help directory file with the help.fdp test database since you usually won't use it and it is not necessary.
• The Include directory folder has many specific files that have very basic information for a pascal programmer but are not necessary to have installed.
• The lib directory folder has two folders, where it is possible using C language to link the DLL file inside your Firebird executable file.
• The Misc directory folder has some scripts and some basic behind-the-scenes information. You can delete the file if you already have a functioning installation of Firebird because you do not require anything from it.
• Inside the system32 directory folder vccrt10_x64.msi installs two files (msvcp100.dll and msvcr100.dll). These files are already installed inside the main Firebird directory so you can uninstall this folder
• fb_lock_print.exe application file gives some basic information. You only need fb_lock_print.exe when you have to work on slow hardware with a high load. In most cases, you want to delete this file.
• The fbguard.exe file is not required if Firebird is installed without it, thus you can delete it too.
• The gsec.exe file is a security database manipulation utility. It allows the SYSBDA the ability to maintain user accounts for various Firebird Databases. It is not needed if you do not use it.
• The gsplit.exe file is a filter utility file that is introduced with Interbase, which allows the output file when backing up a database to be split into a number of chunks or a number of chunks to be joined together and used to restore a database. It is not needed.
• The qli.exe file is a command line tool that is similar to the isql file. It is not needed to have
• The Readme.txt file contains information about the other files in a directory or archive of the Firebird software.

• The intl Folder (international subdirectory) allows character sets and collations to be declared in any character field or variable declaration
• The Plugins directory folder should remain since the file will be directed to this folder when you install a plugin in the future.
• The UDF (user-defined-function) directory folder is used to perform tasks that Firebird/InterBase can't. It is an external database function written entirely in another language, such as C++ or Pascal, to perform data manipulation tasks not directly supported by Firebird/InterBase.
• The databases.conf file database holds the security.db where it can locate the security3/4.fdb. Inside the function, you can directly change the RemoteAccess or DEfaultDbCachePages. It can also include some configuration information for individual databases.
• mcvcp100.dll and msvcr100.dll are extremely important because the firebird windows version is always compiled with the Microsoft Visual Studio compiler. the Microsoft Visual Studio compiler uses these runtime libraries to connect the fbclient.dll. If these files are missing, or you do not have the correct version, you might get an error message that you cannot find the fbclient.dll. Make sure that mcvcp100.dll, msvcr100.dll, and fbclient.dll are in the same directory where the firebird application is, so you will not have any problems.
• fbsvcmgr.exe utility file provides a command-line interface to the Services API, enabling access to any service that is implemented in Firebird.
• fbtrace.conf file contains the full list of available events, with the format, rules, and syntax for composing an audit trace configuration file
• The fbtracemgr.exe file gives access to the trace API of Firebird. It connects to a Firebird server, starts a trace session, and prints the audit trail to standard output.
• The firebird.conf file is used to store the settings used to configure system processes and the Firebird application.
• The firebird.exe file is required because it opens the database management system.
• The firebird.msg file contains the actual error messages of Firebird. When an error occurs, Firebird only sends the error code and message parameters. The client library then looks up the actual error message text in this file.
• The gbak.exe file is a command line tool for online back and restoration of a complete database. GBAK performs a backup while the database is running.
• The gfix.exe file attempts to fix corrupt databases, starting and stopping databases, transactions between multiple databases, changing the number of page buffers and more.
• The gstat.exe file is a statistics tool, where you can get basic information about the state of the database.
• The ib_util.dll module file is a DLL module that is a critical component for the software to work properly without any problems. If the file is damaged or not found, you may receive these error messages.
• icudt52.dll, icuin52.dll, and icuuc52.dll are DLL files which is an essential component that ensures that windows programs are operating properly. If the file is missing it may negatively affect the work of the Firebird Server.
• IDPLicense.txt and APLicense.txt are both Text Document that covers everything about the Licensing of Firebird. It is very important to keep this file, otherwise, it would be a licensing violation.
• install_service.bat and uninstall_service.bat are both batch files that are used to install/uninstall firebird.
• instclient.exe, instreg.exe, and instsvc.exe are used by the install_service.bat file to install the firebird server.
• In the plugins.conf file you have the possibility to later on add plugins. you can use the plugins for example, encrypting the database or using any other plugins.
• The isql.exe utility file is a text-mode client tool that provides a command-line interface for interactive access to a Firebird database. The isql.exe utility file can be used in three modes: as an interactive session; directly from the command line; and as a non-interactive session, using a shell script or batch file. Keep
• security3.fdb or security4.fdb are important files because the entire database security depends on identifying a user and verifying the authority (authentication). Each record in these security3/4.fdb is a user account for one user. For each database, the security database can be overridden in the databases.conf file and any database can be a security database, even for the database itself.
• The zlib1.dll file is an application that is designed to compress and decompress data without any loss of data in the process. It is also designed to work on any hardware and any operating system.
• nbackup.exe is an executable file which recovers data, applications, databases, or systems from an individual file, mailbox item, table object, or entire server.