Oracle puts release of new freebie mini-database on ice to work out kinks

Issues 'too severe' to launch this summer

Oracle has pushed back the express edition of its 18c database until October.

The latest version of Oracle Database XE was due to come out with the next quarterly release update of Big Red's new 18c database this summer.

However, product manager Gerald Venzl said this week that Oracle Database 18c XE will be delayed until October and released with the 18c (Release Update) RU4.

"As we are going through extensive testing of 18c XE, we have found some issues in the latest Release Candidate that we consider being too severe for XE to be released prior to fixing them," he said in a post on the community pages for XE.

"We want to make sure that XE has the highest possible quality and is a rock solid Oracle Database edition."

Venzl added on Twitter that the 18c enterprise edition RU3 was not affected by the findings the firm had made with XE RC.

Oracle XE is the free, small footprint version of the Oracle database, launched in 2006, with an eye on open-source MySQL database. It is limited to 11GB of user data and 1GB of memory, using no more than one CPU on the host machine.

It's often used for training with database administrators and developers, as well as testing out "what if" or R&D scenarios in a database. Support is only through a discussion forum.

At the moment, Oracle XE is available on 11g. 18c was announced at last year's Oracle OpenWorld and is the first to use Big Red's new year-based naming system.

Venzl said that there will be new versions of XE with every version of the Oracle Database – which are due for release each year – but that it would still not be patchable.

In response to a query from a user who wanted to see patches for XE 18c, Venzl said: "There will be a 19c XE, 20c XE, 21c XE and so forth, releasing annually alongside the SE2 and EE editions.

"From that point of view users get a lot of features and fixes over a much shorter period of time than they used to."

He added that XE would also include almost all single instance functionality and would be fully compatible with SE2 and EE. ®