Re: To BLOB Or Not To BLOB - Mailing list pgsql-general

From John Henderson
Subject Re: To BLOB Or Not To BLOB
Date
Msg-id 019701bfa801$f6e500e0$18783eca@john.is.com.fj
Whole thread Raw
In response to To BLOB Or Not To BLOB  (Frank Joerdens <frank@joerdens.de>)
Responses Re: To BLOB Or Not To BLOB
Re: To BLOB Or Not To BLOB
Re: To BLOB Or Not To BLOB
List pgsql-general
Hi,
It seems that the issue with large objects is "Why do you want the info in a
database?"

It seems to me that the point of a database is its ability to order and
relate data. If you want to retrieve the "large-ish text files" based on
their content then I think you need to have the files in the database so
they can be searched. However, if you are going to retrieve the files based
on something about them that is stored as a separate attribute, such as
their title, then I think that storing the files as large objects is
unnecessary.

If you have the option to "[do] as pointers t those files" then I think you
are not intending to use any of Postgres's features beyond its ability to
store and retrieve data. Surely the file system itself is 'better' at this
regardless of how stable Postgres LO's are.

I would sure like to hear someone else's opinion on this because it seems
that quite a few folks are using large objects and I am often curious about
why.

John Henderson

>A while ago it was being held that the Postgres large object data type
>was too new and not sufficiently tested and mature to be used in a
>production environment. I am about to deploy a little database that
>involves storing large-ish text files (20-500k) which could be either done
>as large objects or as pointers to those files that would be then stored
>as ordinary files in the OS's filesystem. I am undecided as to this
>question. What are the pros and cons? What is the performance in either
>case vis-a-vis the other? It is a web app; the interface is done in PHP.
>Beginning from which version is the large object interface (if at all)
>to be considered stable and ready for production?
>
>cheers frank
>
>--
>frank joerdens
>
>joerdens new media
>heinrich-roller str. 16/17
>10405 berlin
>germany
>
>e: frank@joerdens.de
>t: +49 30 44055471
>f: +49 30 44055475
>h: http://www.joerdens.de
>
>pgp public key: http://www.joerdens.de/pgp/frank_joerdens.asc
>


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