U1DB is a cross-platform, cross-device, syncable database

application programming interface An application programming interface (API) is a connection between computers or between computer programs. It is a type of software Interface (computing), interface, offering a service to other pieces of software. A document or standard that des ...

(API). It allows applications to store

JSON JSON (JavaScript Object Notation, pronounced or ) is an open standard file format and electronic data interchange, data interchange format that uses Human-readable medium and data, human-readable text to store and transmit data objects consi ...

documents and synchronize them between machines and devices. U1DB is a schemaless

document-oriented database A document-oriented database, or document store, is a computer program and data storage system designed for storing, retrieving and managing document-oriented information, also known as semi-structured data. Document-oriented databases are one ...

API that does not need to contain any pre-defined list of fields. It can be implemented in any language, on any platform, using any data store backend. U1DB was created when

Canonical The adjective canonical is applied in many contexts to mean 'according to the canon' the standard, rule or primary source that is accepted as authoritative for the body of knowledge or literature in that context. In mathematics, ''canonical exampl ...

had scaling issues with

CouchDB Apache CouchDB is an open-source document-oriented NoSQL database, implemented in Erlang. CouchDB uses multiple formats and protocols to store, transfer, and process its data. It uses JSON to store data, JavaScript as its query language using ...

previously used in their

Ubuntu One Ubuntu One is an OpenID-based single sign-on service operated by Canonical Ltd. to allow users to log onto many Canonical-owned Web sites. Until April 2014, Ubuntu One was also a file hosting service and music store that allowed users to store ...

service. They were having problems with implementing their service for millions of users and at the same time providing good performance on large server farms as well as tablets and smart phones. Defining an interface (API) allowed them to implement their data synchronization service using different languages and data stores on each platform.

References

External links

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DocumentationUsing U1DB in ListViews in Ubuntu SDK apps
Database APIs Free software programmed in Python Free software programmed in C Software using the GNU Lesser General Public License {{Database-software-stub