Using Testcontainers for a maintained database compatibility matrix in an older Java project

[ejboy]

I maintain Scriptella, a Java ETL project that has been around for about 20 years.

One thing I wanted to improve was confidence in real-database compatibility. Scriptella supports JDBC broadly, but unit tests and embedded databases only tell you so much. So I created a separate public Testcontainers-based compatibility suite.

It currently runs Scriptella against:

• PostgreSQL
• MariaDB
• Oracle Free
• Microsoft SQL Server

Each target uses pinned container images and JDBC drivers, and CI runs the databases in separate Linux jobs. The suite exercises actual Scriptella ETL behavior, including setup, data movement, assertions through the vendor driver, and rollback behavior.

I’m deliberately not calling this “certification". The goal is a small, reproducible, maintained compatibility matrix that users can inspect and that we can keep exercising as Scriptella evolves.

Repository:
https://github.com/scriptella/scriptella-testcontainers

I’d be interested in feedback from people who use Testcontainers heavily. In particular:

• Does the overall structure look reasonable?
• Is pinning database images and JDBC driver versions the right approach here?
• Are there useful Testcontainers practices I’m missing for this kind of long-lived compatibility suite?
• Is there a better way to present historical compatibility results without turning it into a large test framework?

The project is intentionally small, so I’m especially interested in improvements that increase confidence without adding much complexity.