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Show HN: Base, an SQLite database editor for macOS

(menial.co.uk)
676 points __bb | 5 comments | 25 Aug 25 14:17 UTC | HN request time: 0.017s | source

I recently released v3 of Base, my SQLite editor for macOS.

The goal of this app is to provide a comfortable native GUI for SQLite, without it turning into a massive IDE-style app.

The coolest features are

- That it can handle full altering of tables, which is quite finicky to do manually with SQLite.

- It has a more detailed display of column constraints than most editors. Each constraint is shown as an icon if active, with full details available on clicking the icon.

This update also adds support for attaching databases, which is a bit fiddly with macOS sandboxing.

I'd love to hear any feedback or answer any questions.

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aaomidi ◴[25 Aug 25 20:11 UTC] No.45018410[source]▶
It's crazy how expensive these small utilities are.

And worse, because they're paid you don't even get the source code to fix issues yourself :/

replies(2): >>45019037 #>>45021660 #
1. lemming ◴[25 Aug 25 21:08 UTC] No.45019037[source]▶
So the OSS thing is a preference, obviously, if you like OSS tools, just use them - it's not like you're short of options.

But... expensive? Really? A one-off cost (not a subscription, mind) for a tool that might make an expensive developer/data person even marginally more productive? You have to be kidding. It blows my mind how much developers, who of all users should be the ones who appreciate how much work goes into something like this, complain so often about the cost of basic tools.

replies(1): >>45019992 #
2. aaomidi ◴[25 Aug 25 22:36 UTC] No.45019992[source]▶
TBH the author asked for feedback and I provided it.

There’s a ton of work that’s OSS. There’s also a ton of work that’s not.

This is a tool that I’d happily pay double the amount that they’re asking if it was OSS. I also regularly fund OSS maintainers.

Heck I’d even be fine with a closed source by default, but pay to get source code access too.

replies(1): >>45022964 #
3. __bb ◴[26 Aug 25 06:28 UTC] No.45022964[source]▶
And I welcome the feedback, even if I probably won’t follow it. If everyone thought like you do, then it’d be far nicer to publish the code and maybe charge for support. I’m fairly confident that not enough people feel the same way to make it work.

As to pricing, I need to be able to financially justify the time spent working on the app, and the price is one that I hope will let me do that.

replies(1): >>45027779 #
4. aaomidi ◴[26 Aug 25 15:16 UTC] No.45027779{3}[source]▶
I would love for you to make the code source available if you pay.

Or are you worried about people stealing and making pirated copies?

replies(1): >>45029361 #
5. __bb ◴[26 Aug 25 17:05 UTC] No.45029361{4}[source]▶
If the code were available I would 100% expect that someone else would distribute a binary with the paywalled features unlocked and that my original version would be relegated to secondary.

I know you could make the argument “the right license wouldn’t allow that”, but that would only be enforced if you follow up through the courts, perhaps internationally. I just can’t be doing with the hassle unfortunately.