Databases: Which one's right for me?

[Steve Williams]

Marc wrote:
> Hi all,
> 
[snip]

> Basically I need a db that will travel with my executable script and
> faithfully store and edit the data needed in that script. People using
> this script will need to be stand alone users. Having a client/server
> arrangement is not possible over a network.
> 
> Also, installing some type of db engine outside of Python is also not
> possible.

[snip]

> Or, if there exists
> another solution other than the two I mentioned, please throw that out
> there because it's almost impossible to completely examine every
> possibility out there. All suggestions are helpful.
> 
> Thanks ahead of time,
> Marc

Firebird 1.5 has a nice stand-alone database capability I use for demos.

You don't have to install anything on the target machine, but it's not 
something that can be packed up in a python exe, as far as I know.  You 
have to have the Firebird database, its dll, config file and message 
file in the same directory as your Python program, but that's all.

Firebird, as a database, is worth a look.  I'd spend an hour evaluating 
it before using ACCESS and DAO.

You might run into deployment problems with ACCESS 2, 3, 4, 5, 7, 
2000/DAO on Windows 95, Windows 98, Windows NT, Windows XP, service 
packs 1-5, plus corruption/compaction headaches.  But that's just my 
experience.  "You have moved the mouse, please insert the ACCESS 
installation CD...".

If you just want some data persistency, use pickle.