iBATIS vs MyBatis

Same Family, New Home

When iBATIS was renamed MyBatis, the framework was re-versioned to 3.x and adopted under a community home. The core design stayed the same; the packaging and some details changed.

What Changed

• Package names: com.ibatis.* became org.apache.ibatis.*.
• Versioning: iBATIS 2.x gave way to MyBatis 3.x and later 3.5.x.
• Mapper APIs: MyBatis popularised Java mapper interfaces that pair with XML, replacing the string-keyed statement calls.
• Dynamic SQL tags: richer <where>, <set>, <foreach> in MyBatis 3.
• Spring integration: first-class mybatis-spring modules.

What Stayed the Same

• SQL-first philosophy: you write the SQL.
• XML mapper files with parameter and result maps.
• Session-style access via SqlSession (formerly SqlMapClient).
• The #{} parameter binding that prevents injection.

Key Points

• MyBatis is iBATIS renamed and modernised.
• Packages, versions and mapper APIs changed most.
• Concepts and XML structure carried over.
• Today you should write new code in MyBatis 3.