AWS Open Sources Babelfish for PostgreSQL

AWS is open sourcing Babelfish for PostgreSQL, which acts as a translation layer for PostgreSQL and is aimed at facilitating migrations from Microsoft SQL Server to PostgreSQL. 

As Matt Asay explains in an article for TechRepublic, this development means that “PostgreSQL can now understand commands from applications written for Microsoft SQL Server without the developer having to change database schema, libraries, or SQL statements. For all intents and purposes, the application thinks it's talking to SQL Server, but it's now talking to PostgreSQL.”

According to the announcement on Amazon’s Open Source blog, Babelfish stands out for a couple of reasons: The translation capability allows for much faster migrations with minimal developer effort, and Babelfish is "centered on correctness, meaning applications designed to use SQL Server functionality will behave the same on PostgreSQL as they would on SQL Server.”

Babelfish will be officially open sourced in 2021 under the Apache 2.0 license. For now, you can check it out in a preview on Amazon Aurora

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