Thread: postgres on Win32...

i just downloaded postgres and followed the instructions
in the Win32 FAQ that can be found at...
   http://postgresql.crimelabs.net/docs/faq-mswin

and then followed the build instructions found in the
PDF documentation.

i had problems with the build and went to the pgcyg
mailing list and discovered that the documentation in
both is somewhat inaccurate. where i describe issues
below and use the term "FAQ" i am intending it to apply
to both the FAQ and the product documentation.

first, i would have greatly appreciated the FAQ saying
that the current release of the cygwin binaries also
includes a binary distribution of postgres so that if
i don't particularly want to build from source (i don't)
then i don't have to.

second, the faq doesn't mention anything about applying
patches just so the source code can build. the current
code base requires that at least one patch be applied
for version issues with readline before the build will
succeed. while the frequency that versions come out at
may prohibit updating the documentation the online faq
should be updated to reflect the latest news.

the next issue with the documentation is that it doesn't
seem to mention the fact that there ANY binary
distributions! okay, one mention in the bug reporting
section. not everyone wants to build from source.
there are binary RPM's available for the various *nix
that are supported (not having a binary for win32 on the
mirrors is an issue but not a documentation issue) but
the documentation doesn't mention them. please include
a section on downloading and installing from the RPM's.

the final documentation issue is that the PDF does not
have any bookmarks. this means that i have to manually
scroll through the document in order to hit a section
that i want instead of nicely double-clicking on a
bookmark to go there instantly.

thanks for listening!

rjsjr

ps - yes, if you want me to change the faq, i will.
and, if given a copy of the source for the docs i
am willing to work on those as well.

Robert J. Sanford, Jr. writes:

> first, i would have greatly appreciated the FAQ saying
> that the current release of the cygwin binaries also
> includes a binary distribution of postgres so that if
> i don't particularly want to build from source (i don't)
> then i don't have to.

Well, the installation instructions document how to build from source.  If
you don't want to build from source then you shouldn't be reading the
installation instructions. ;-)  Also, we cannot possibly keep track of
what other vendors ship in their product.  Possible consequences might be
people complaining that we pointed them to <other guys>, but <other guys>
only ship an older version.

> second, the faq doesn't mention anything about applying
> patches just so the source code can build.

That's because at the time of release we had confirmation that PostgreSQL
built according to the instructions (a.k.a. "out of the box") on Cygwin.

> the current code base requires that at least one patch be applied for
> version issues with readline before the build will succeed.

That version of readline wasn't released (or widely available?) at the
time of release of the version you're looking at.  However, the latest
version does not have these problems.

> while the frequency that versions come out at may prohibit updating
> the documentation the online faq should be updated to reflect the
> latest news.

Documentation is only released with new software releases.  The FAQs are
no different here.

> the next issue with the documentation is that it doesn't
> seem to mention the fact that there ANY binary
> distributions!

We don't make binary releases, so we cannot document them.

> the final documentation issue is that the PDF does not
> have any bookmarks. this means that i have to manually
> scroll through the document in order to hit a section
> that i want instead of nicely double-clicking on a
> bookmark to go there instantly.

If you have a clue how to create them, let us know.

--
Peter Eisentraut   peter_e@gmx.net   http://funkturm.homeip.net/~peter