First native Linux alpha version available

As many HeidiSQL users asked me over the years whether I could release HeidiSQL as a native Linux application. My answer was always that this would be a new project, not just a thing I can do besides the other issue hunting. But in the recent 8 weeks I spend quite a lot of hours in learning Lazarus, and how to convert a GUI application from the Windows + Delphi code to something which I can compile on Linux + Lazarus/FreePascal.

So here is it now, the first alpha release with some basic features. Note this is not intended for production use, as many things are still missing and/or incomplete. Also note there is not yet support for SSH tunnels, SQL Server and Interbase connections.

Check the download page and expand the "Native Linux version" section.

hi @angsgar , this is great news. Would the Lazarus version be able to produce a Windows binary too and if so, where is the source code? Being able to develop using free/open-source tools, would greatly benefit this project as not everyone can afford RAD Studio

Sources are in the "lazarus" Git branch. The number of 92 commits in that branch is reflected in the version number: 12.10.1.92

And yes, the Lazarus code compiles on Windows. I am doing most stuff on Windows, and only few things on Linux, apart from compiling and testing. But the compiled Windows binary is not meant to be a drop-in replacement for the official Windows version.

The Delphi code is more advanced in many details. One of its advantages is the ADO driver which I am using for connecting to SQL server. There is no ADO driver for Lazarus, only the replacement TSQLConnector which works very different. Well, primary goal was not to replace the code, but to provide a Linux binary, plus probably something for MacOS in the future.