I’m looking for the best database software for a new open source application. The primary criteria is it has to be lightning fast for searching among tens of thousands of entries. Ideally it would be entirely Java based but simply having a Java API is OK. I’m looking to license under GPL so the project would have to be compatible with that. So far SQLite seems to be the most ubiquitous solution but I don’t want to overlook something else if it could turn out to be better.
When I search the general internet, most results seems to be for object databases. I don’t care if the database is object-based or relational, and I don’t think I care if it’s “NoSQL” . I have lots of experience with MySQL but I’m not terribly afraid of learning a new query language or interface if it’s faster that way. The main kind of data this will be managing is filenames with at least 20 metadata fields attached; I’d want to have multiple datasets with the same fields, and it would be nice to also store some application preferences in the database.
I see from some responses that there may be confusion about my (former) use of “embedded” in the title. I want to clarify that I mean “embedded in the application and redistributed” and not “in use on an embedded device.” The application is currently targeting full scale computers, although one reason for “ideally it would be entirely java based” is a dreamy aspiration of creating an Android version.
Take a look at http://www.polepos.org/ there is a benchmark which clains thathttp://www.db4o.com/
is one of the fastest embedded dbs.
I personally worked with db4o and its very nice and its licensed under GPL so it should possibly fit your needs