Databases Made Simple

Personal Database

© Lead Image © Womue, Fotolia.com

© Lead Image © Womue, Fotolia.com

Article from Issue 230/2020
Author(s):

From a simple task list to a collection that keeps tabs on your books, Symphytum lets you quickly and easily build databases for storing and working with any type of data imaginable.

You rarely need a full-blown relational database if you only want to store recipes, notes, tasks, and other simple pieces of data. What you need is a tool that makes it possible to quickly create simple, easy-to-use, database-powered applications with a minimum of effort and technical knowledge. Enter Symphytum [1]. You'll be hard-pressed to find a more straightforward and user-friendly application for creating personal databases. With absolutely no knowledge of database theory and design, you can build databases for pretty much any purpose. More importantly, the resulting databases feature a polished interface that doesn't require a degree in computer science to use.

Getting Started

Symphytum uses SQLite as its database engine. Being lightweight, robust, and mature, SQLite is a popular choice for powering database-driven applications. However, Symphytum hides all the technical intricacies behind a user-friendly interface, so you are never exposed to the scary database underbelly.

The project's GitHub site offers packaged versions for popular Linux distributions. You'll also find an AppImage self-contained executable. It's larger than the packages for specific distributions, and it might run slightly slower on your machine. But it requires no installation and comes with all required dependencies. As such, it offers the easiest and fastest way to run Symphytum on practically any Linux system. Grab the latest AppImage file from the project's Releases page, make the downloaded file executable using the command

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