emphasizing installability of TurnKey PostgreSQL on pgsql's download page - Mailing list pgsql-www

Hi Guys,

There was a bit of confusion last week regarding what TurnKey PostgreSQL
is all about. I see this is now reflected in the download page's
description:

"Live CDs

Live CDs are bootable CD images that allow you to run and play with
PostgreSQL and a selection of related tools and software, without
installing anything on your PC. Note that as complete operating systems,
these distributions may not be updated immediately when new versions of
PostgreSQL are released.

pg_live - a Xubuntu based live CD designed and optimized expressly for
the PostgreSQL Database administrator and enthusiast. Sponsored by Open
Technology Group.

TurnKey PostgreSQL - An Ubuntu based live CD featuring a Mac OS X-themed
Web management interface and a Python configuration and installation
console. Published by TurnKey Linux."

At least in regards to TurnKey PostgreSQL, this description is likely to
confuse some readers, as it has apparently confused some subscribers to
the mailing list.

Our appliance's defining feature isn't that it runs Live. That is merely
a nice feature that appeals to users who are interested in evaluating
the appliance before committing to installing it. These days it is very
common for Linux distribution of all sorts to be able to run in Live CD
mode.

TurnKey PostgreSQL is *installable* and in fact from the feedback we've
been getting running in Live CD "demo" mode is not the common usage
scenario by any means. It turns out that after demoing the appliance,
most users will install it into a physical machine or a virtual machine
(e.g., VMWare, VirtualBox, KVM)

In other words, the correct category for TurnKey PostgreSQL isn't Live
CDs, but rather "Software appliances".

A more accurate description might go something like this:

Software appliances

A <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Software_appliance">software
appliance</a> is a pre-integrated, ready-to-use system that combines
PostgreSQL with just enough operating system for it to run optimally on
industry standard hardware or in a virtual machine.

<a href="http://www.turnkeylinux.org/appliances/postgresql">TurnKey
PostgreSQL</a> - An Ubuntu-based software appliance packaged as an
installable live CD featuring a Mac OS X-themed Web management interface
and a Python configuration and installation console. Published by <a
href="http://www.turnkeylinux.org">TurnKey Linux.</a>

What do you think, does that make any sense?

Cheers,
Liraz

Liraz Siri wrote:
> Bruce Momjian wrote:
>> I hate to bring this up but --- although they download Postgres updates
>> from Ubuntu, because it is a live cd don't they revert with a their
>> CD-pressed version of Postgres every time they reboot.  :-(
> 
> Actually, TurnKey appliances are packages as *installable* Live CDs. You
> can run the system live from the CD, but we consider that to be useful
> mostly for demo/training scenarios. For more conventional usage
> scenarios, you'll want to install the software appliance into a physical
> machine, or a virtual machine (e.g., we use VirtualBox for testing).