Oracle Releases and Versions

Beginning with Oracle 12.2, new versions are released annually and the version number represents the release year. New releases are now mainated with updates and revisions (rather than with patch sets, patch set updates and database bundle patches).

  Version  Jahr  Notable feature

  v2  1979  First commercially available SQL based RDBMS.

  v3  1983  Written in C - thus could be run on (almost) any hardware that had a C compiler: mainframes, minicomputers and PCs.

  v4  1984  First DB with read consistency.

  v5  1985  Client/server computing; distributed databases

  v6  1988  Parallel Server; backup/recovery; row locking; scalability; first version of PL/SQL.

6.2

  7  1992   PL/SQL stored procedures, triggers, Shared Pool, maxextents unlimited etc.

  7.1  1994 

  7.2  1995  Shared Server, XA TRX, Transparent Application Failover

  7.3  1996   

  8  1997  partitioned tables.

  8i  1998   Native support for Internet protocols, server side support for Java, VPD

  9i  2001  RAC

  9i Rel 2 2002  Advanced Queueing, Data-mining, Streams, Logical Standby

  10g Rel 1  2003  Automated Database Management, Automatic Database Diagnostic Monitor, Grid infrastructure, ASM, Flashback Database

  10g Rel 2  2005  Real Application Testing, Database Vault, Online Indexing, Advanced Compression, Data Guard Fast-Start Failover, Transparent Data Encryption

  11g Rel 1  2007 

  11g Rel 2  2009 

  12c Rel 1  2013  Multitenant architecture, In-Memory Column Store, Native JSON, SQL Pattern Matching, Database Cloud Service

  12c Rel 2  2016  Native Sharding, Zero Data Loss Recovery Appliance, Exadata Cloud Service, Cloud at Customer

  18c  2018   Polymorphic Table Functions, Active Directory Integration

  19c         The long-support version of 12c (12.2). Improvents to JSON and Active Data Guard.

  20c   A preview-only release which was never generally available.

  21c         An innovation release (i.e. it has a short support lifespan). Blockchain tables, native JSON data types.

  23c         Oracle says there won't be a 22c relase; the release after 21c will be 23c (which is also the next long term release).

Notes

Famously, there was no version Oracle v1 because nobody wants a version 1.

The i in 8i stands for internet, the g in 10g and 11 for grid and the c in 12c and following versions for cloud.

Misc

Assertions

Will a future release have assertions, aka cross-row constraints or multi-table check constraints (which have been in the SQL standard since SQL-92)?

create assertion
       at_most_one_president
    as
       check ( (select count(*) from emp where job='PRESIDENT') <= 1);

update emp set job='PRESIDENT' where empno = 102;
… ORA-xxxxx: assertion AT_MOST_ONE_PRESIDENT violated

Version	Jahr	Notable feature
v2	1979	First commercially available SQL based RDBMS.
v3	1983	Written in C - thus could be run on (almost) any hardware that had a C compiler: mainframes, minicomputers and PCs.
v4	1984	First DB with read consistency.
v5	1985	Client/server computing; distributed databases
v6	1988	Parallel Server; backup/recovery; row locking; scalability; first version of PL/SQL.
6.2
7	1992	PL/SQL stored procedures, triggers, Shared Pool, maxextents unlimited etc.
7.1	1994
7.2	1995	Shared Server, XA TRX, Transparent Application Failover
7.3	1996
8	1997	partitioned tables.
8i	1998	Native support for Internet protocols, server side support for Java, VPD
9i	2001	RAC
9i Rel 2	2002	Advanced Queueing, Data-mining, Streams, Logical Standby
10g Rel 1	2003	Automated Database Management, Automatic Database Diagnostic Monitor, Grid infrastructure, ASM, Flashback Database
10g Rel 2	2005	Real Application Testing, Database Vault, Online Indexing, Advanced Compression, Data Guard Fast-Start Failover, Transparent Data Encryption
11g Rel 1	2007
11g Rel 2	2009
12c Rel 1	2013	Multitenant architecture, In-Memory Column Store, Native JSON, SQL Pattern Matching, Database Cloud Service
12c Rel 2	2016	Native Sharding, Zero Data Loss Recovery Appliance, Exadata Cloud Service, Cloud at Customer
18c	2018	Polymorphic Table Functions, Active Directory Integration
19c		The long-support version of 12c (12.2). Improvents to JSON and Active Data Guard.
20c		A preview-only release which was never generally available.
21c		An innovation release (i.e. it has a short support lifespan). Blockchain tables, native JSON data types.
23c		Oracle says there won't be a 22c relase; the release after 21c will be 23c (which is also the next long term release).

Oracle Releases and Versions

Notes

Misc

Assertions

See also