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Asked: 2026-05-11T15:15:57+00:00

I’m starting to get involved in an open source project Gramps which is exploring

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I’m starting to get involved in an open source project Gramps which is exploring switching their backend from BSDDB to a relational database. Either SQLite or MySQL we haven’t fully decided and may even try to do both in some limited capacity. I’m a professional developer but I’m new to python so I’m not that familiar with the current selection of tools/libraries. I’ve been tasked with researching DB Abstraction Layers. There is currently a wiki discussion going on to compare them. An object relational mapper might be nice but isn’t absolutely necessary. though I know that is usually synonymous with a DB Abstraction Layer. If an ORM is included ad hock queries have to be available without to much wrestling.

Right now the list includes:

CouchDB I haven’t yet looked into this.

DB-API this seems to be a standard python api and each db creates their own module that uses it. Even BSDDB seems to have one written but I haven’t fully explored it. are the modules interchangeable?

SQLAlchemy This seems to be the most popular right now? but I have very limited exposure to the python world.

SQLObject I haven’t yet looked into this.

So what are peoples views and suggestions on database abstraction layers for python?

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  1. Look very closely at SQLAlchemy.

    You can test and develop with SQLite.

    You can go into production with MySQL — making essentially no changes to your applications.

    The DB-API, while widely adhered-to, has enough flexibility that (1) you aren’t insulated from SQL variation in the underlying RDBMS and (2) there are still DB driver-specific features that are hard to hide.

    Another good ORM layer is the ORM that’s part of Django. You can (with a little effort) use just the Django ORM without using the rest of the Django web framework.

    Use an ORM Layer (SQLAlchemy or SQLObject) in preference to DB-API.

    Why? Your model should be a solid, clear, well-thought-out OO model. The relational mapping should come second after the object model. SQLAlchemy makes this a reasonable approach.

    A ‘DB Abstraction Layer’ will happen in the normal course of events. Indeed, because of DB-API (as used by SQLAlchemy) you gave two abstraction layers: ORM and DB-API.

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