Documentation Source Text

<p>The ALWAYS(X) and NEVER(X) macros are a weaker statement about the
truth of X.  The presence of ALWAYS(X) or NEVER(X) means that the developers
believe X is always or never true, but there is no proof, or the proof
is complex and error-prone, or the proof depends on other aspects 
of the system that seem likely to change.

<p>Other systems sometimes use assert(X) in a way that is
similar to the use of ALWAYS(X) or NEVER(X) in SQLite.
Developers will add an assert(X) as a 
[https://blog.regehr.org/archives/1576|tacit acknowledgement that they
do not fully believe that X is always true].
We believe that this use of assert(X) is wrong and violates the intent
and purpose of having assert(X) available in C in the first place.
An assert(X) should not be seen as a safety-net or top-rope used to

<title>SQLite Developers</title>
<tcl>hd_keywords {crew} {Hipp} {Kennedy}</tcl>

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<img src="images/drh1.jpg" align="left" hspace="25" vspace="0">
<p>
<b>D. Richard Hipp
</b> began the SQLite project on 2000-05-29
and continues to serve as the project architect.  Richard was born,
lives, and works in 
[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charlotte,_North_Carolina | Charlotte, North Carolina.]  He holds degrees from

This means that application written to use SQLite today should be able to
link against and use future versions of SQLite released decades in the
future.

<p>
Our goal is to make the content you store in SQLite today as 
easily accessible to your grandchildren as it is to you.

<p>
<b>Update on 2018-05-39:</b>
Our goal of supporting SQLite long-term have apparently come to the
notice of the preservations at the 
[https://www.loc.gov|US Library Of Congress] who have identified
SQLite as a [recommended storage format] for the preservation of
digital content.

compatible. 
</p>

<p>
The stability of the SQLite database file format and the fact
that the file format is cross-platform combine to make SQLite
database files an excellent choice as an 
[Application File Format].
The US Library Of Congress acknowledges this by listing SQLite
as a [recommended storage format] for long-term preservation of
digital content.
</p>
</p>

<hr>
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<p>Notes:
<ol>
<li>Temporary journal files are created as part of transaction control,

<p>
All SQLite releases starting with 3.9.0 use a three-number
"[http://semver.org|semantic version]" of the form X.Y.Z.
The first number X is only increased when there is a change that
breaks backward compatibility.  The
current value for X is 3, and the SQLite developers plan to support
the current SQLite database file format, SQL syntax, and C interface
through [long term support|at least the year 2050].  Hence, one
can expect that all future versions of SQLite for the next several
decades will begin with "3.".

<p>
The second number Y is incremented for any change that breaks forward
compatibility by adding new features.
Most future SQLite releases are expected