Ingres (database)

Ingres
Original author(s)University of California, Berkeley
Developer(s)Actian
Stable release
12.0 / July 14, 2024; 4 months ago (2024-07-14)[1]
Written inC
Operating systemCross-platform
TypeRDBMS
LicenseProprietary, used to be open source GNU General Public License
Websitewww.actian.com/products/operational-databases/ingres/
Logo used from 2005 to 2011
Logo used from 2005 to 2011

Ingres Database (/ɪŋˈɡrɛs/ ing-GRESS) is a proprietary SQL relational database management system intended to support large commercial and government applications.

Actian Corporation controls the development of Ingres and makes certified binaries available for download, as well as providing worldwide support. There was an open source release of Ingres but it is no longer available for download from Actian. However, there is a version of the source code still available on GitHub.[2]

In its early years, Ingres was an important milestone in the history of database development. Ingres began as a research project at UC Berkeley, starting in the early 1970s and ending in 1985.[3] During this time Ingres remained largely similar to IBM's seminal System R in concept; it differed in more permissive licensing of source code, in being based largely on DEC machines, both under UNIX[4] and VAX/VMS,[5] and in providing QUEL as a query language instead of SQL. QUEL was considered at the time to run truer to Edgar F. Codd's relational algebra (especially concerning composability), but SQL was easier to parse and less intimidating for those without a formal background in mathematics.[6]

When ANSI preferred SQL over QUEL as part of the 1986 SQL standard (SQL-86), Ingres became less competitive against rival products such as Oracle until future Ingres versions also provided SQL.[7] Many companies spun off of the original Ingres technology, including Actian itself, originally known as Relational Technology Inc., and the NonStop SQL database originally developed by Tandem Computers but now offered by Hewlett Packard Enterprise.

  1. ^ Actian Corporation (2024-07-14). "Ingres 12.0 Guides". actian.com. Retrieved 2023-08-10.
  2. ^ "Ingres is a feature rich and robust database (RDBMS)". github.com. November 5, 2019.
  3. ^ University of California, Berkeley Database Group. "Archive Software Projects". University INGRES project. Archived from the original on January 26, 2014. Retrieved 12 July 2013.
  4. ^ J. Woodfill (1979). "INGRES Version 6.2 Reference Manual" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2022-07-01. Retrieved 2022-06-02. The INGRIS reference manual is subdivided into four parts: Quel describes the commands and features which are used inside of INGRES. Unix describes the ...
  5. ^ "RTI announces VAX, Unix Ingres". ComputerWorld. November 7, 1983. p. 63. For VAX-lls Running Unix, Relational Technology Offers Updated DBMS BERKELEY, Calif. — Relational Technology, Inc. (RTI) has announced the Ingres VAX ...
  6. ^ Pranskevichus, Elvis (9 May 2019). "We Can Do Better Than SQL". edgedb.com. EdgeDB Inc. house blog. Retrieved 29 November 2021.
  7. ^ Chin, Cedric (7 October 2020). "A Short Story About SQL's Biggest Rival". holistics.io. Holistics Software house blog. Retrieved 29 November 2021.