How to be downward compatible to a customers old local database when the application is brandnew?

Programmer Question

Hello,

I want that my users can read my sqlite database still in 10 years, because there could be data in it they want to browse.

Well the database file is 10 years old. In the meantime I have upgraded my database structure (additional fields is best example) and my latest version of the application makes use of that new fields.

Now the user wants to load the 10 year old database with the brandnew application version. But that won`t work, because in the old database file there are some fields missing.

How would you deal with such a scenario?

Find the answer here