Libgda is a generic data access library which allows uniform access to several different data sources (Database systems, XML/MS Access/xBase/SQLite files, LDAP servers, etc) GNOME Data Access (GDA) is an architecture whose purpose is to provide universal access to many different kinds and types of data sources. This goes from traditional relational database systems, to any imaginable kind of data source such as a mail server, a LDAP directory...

This universality is obtained through the use of an easily extensible plug-in system as the mechanism for communication between the different components in the architecture.