rqlite, the lightweight, open-source, distributed relational database written in Go and built on SQLite, has seen a series of significant updates enhancing its robustness, efficiency, and feature set.

With releases from 8.20.0 to 8.22.2, rqlite continues to evolve, driven by community input and a commitment to providing a high-quality, distributed database solution.

New Features and Enhancements

The introduction of the freshness_strict flag in version 8.20.0 introduces a new enhancement to stale read checks, allowing more stringent control over data freshness and consistency. This feature makes it easier to control the results you get, particularly important for distributed environments where read consistency is paramount.

Version 8.22.0 introduces much better support for BLOB data, a long-awaited improvement that makes it easier to handle binary data. This update, alongside improvements in JSON marshaling and the ability to display BLOB data as byte arrays in the rqlite shell, makes it much easier to store data files in rqlite.

Significant Bug Fixes and Implementation Changes

Across these updates, several notable bug fixes and implementation changes have been made to enhance rqlite’s stability and performance. Release 8.22.2 improves Node-Recovery operations, and the removal of obsolete Raft-related code in version 8.22.1 addresses some rare restart-failures.

Looking Forward

These recent releases benefited greatly from ideas and bug reports from the community. Many thanks to those whose recent input and feedback has resulted in an improved database.

For more details on these releases, including the full list of bug fixes and implementation changes, check out the CHANGELOG and join the rqlite Slack channel for discussions, support, and collaboration.