Re: MySQL's (false?) claims... (was: Re: PL/java?) - Mailing list pgsql-general

Peter Eisentraut <peter_e@gmx.net> writes:

> Justin Clift writes:
>
> > If anyone else can see things blatantly wrong on that page, email me
> > about them and I'll ask Monty (the MySQL guy) to please
> > change/remove/fix them.
>
> > > >       http://www.mysql.com/doc/M/y/MySQL-PostgreSQL_features.html
>
> Many of these advantages can easily interpreted as disadvantages.  For
> example:
>
> * MySQL has more API to other languages and is supported by more programs
> than PostgreSQL. See section D Contributed Programs.
>
> => MySQL has 6 Perl modules, 5 ODBC drivers, and 4 C++ interfaces.
> PostgreSQL concentrates its efforts on making one driver work best for all
> users.

For interfaces, it's best to have only one, and a good one (like one
DBD module for perl, one JDBC interface for Java, one python module
implementing the Python DB API (there are several Pg ones available
here)). But this didn't just focus on APIs.

> * There are far moore books in print on MySQL than on PostgreSQL.
> O'Reilly, Sams, Que, and New Riders are all major publishers with books
> about MySQL.
>
> => MySQL is so hard to understand and poorly documented, a plethora of
> books had to come out before anyone could use it.

That is a ridiculous claim. More documentation is good - like how to
apply the different scenarios and by different authors. From "Foo in
24 hours" to "Data mining with bar".

> * All MySQL features is also documented in the MySQL on-line manual
> because when a feature is implemented, the MySQL developers are required
> to document it before it's included in the source.
>
> => blah... :-)

The MySQL documentation is actually rather nice (not saying that the
PostgreSQL isn't).

> * MySQL has support for tables without transactions for applications that
> need all speed they can get.
>
> => MySQL is not a fully transactional database system.

It defaults to this as well, AFAIR.

> * MySQL has internal support for text search. See section 6.8 MySQL
> Full-text Search.
>
> => PostgreSQL has a number of different full text search solutions
> available, or users can plug in their own.

Weren't you the one preaching the wonders of "one way to do it"
(API-wise) above?

> * You can access many databases from the same connection (depending of
> course on your privileges).
>
> => PostgreSQL does not allow you to access more than one database per
> connection.  This makes the system much safer and allows for more robust
> design.

Sometimes, you'd like to anyway ;) The person doing the bugzilla port
would even like to have multi-DB operations (and split tables, with
parts of the query running on each one).

> => PostgreSQL is coded from the start with multi-processing while MySQL
> uses threads.  Threads have historically led to much more bug-prone
> programs and are poorly supported on many operating systems.  If one
> thread crashes your whole server goes down.
>
> * MySQL has a much more sophisticated privilege system than PostgreSQL.
>
> => MySQL has a much more complicated privilege system than
> PostgreSQL.

There is a difference between what must be done and what can be
done. E.g. you can use Emacs quite comofortably as a very powerful
editor without knowing much lisp. You can do anything you want if you
need to.

> * MySQL employs the table handler concept and is the only relational
> database we know of built around this concept.
>
> => MySQL employs a table handler concept, which makes your code much less
> SQL compliant and makes MySQL harder to learn.

Do you have to use it, or is it something you can choose to take
advantage of?

> * Tools to repair and optimize MyISAM tables (the most common MySQL table
> type).
>
> => In MySQL you have to repair your tables manually if corruption occurs.
> PostgreSQL is coded so that corruption cannot occur.

You sound like H.R. That's not a compliment.

--
Trond Eivind Glomsrød
Red Hat, Inc.