Thread: PostgreSQL the right choice?

PostgreSQL the right choice?

From
Richard Chrenko
Date:
I have been looking for a RDBMS to deploy with our solar energy
simulation.

MySQL looks like it's free until you want to bundle it with a commercial
application, at which time license fees are required. What is the
situation with PostgreSQL?

Given that we have a Java application and don't have the manpower to
port a DBMS, what are the platforms on which PostgreSQL is currently
stable?

Is it possible to deploy PostgreSQL via an installer program, then
automatically run a script to generate the tables and populate them with
data from flat files?

Thanks for any comments.
--
Richard Chrenko, Informatik
Institut für Solartechnik SPF
Hochschule für Technik Rapperswil, Oberseestr.10, CH-8640 Rapperswil
Tel +41 55 222 48 33, Fax +41 55 222 48 44, http://www.solarenergy.ch

Re: PostgreSQL the right choice?

From
"Marshall Spight"
Date:
"Richard Chrenko" <richard@solarenergy.ch> wrote in message news:3C8EF7D7.1003ECC3@solarenergy.ch...
>
> MySQL looks like it's free until you want to bundle it with a commercial
> application, at which time license fees are required. What is the
> situation with PostgreSQL?

That's not why you want to avoid MySQL. You want to avoid MySQL
because it's underpowered. No transactions, no foreign keys, no subselects,
etc. etc.


> Given that we have a Java application and don't have the manpower to
> port a DBMS, what are the platforms on which PostgreSQL is currently
> stable?

I think the short answer is "all of them." It runs great on Windows (under cygwin)
and many unix and linux.

Try it out.


Marshall




Re: PostgreSQL the right choice?

From
Vincent Stoessel
Date:
Marshall Spight wrote:
> "Richard Chrenko" <richard@solarenergy.ch> wrote in message news:3C8EF7D7.1003ECC3@solarenergy.ch...
>
>>MySQL looks like it's free until you want to bundle it with a commercial
>>application, at which time license fees are required. What is the
>>situation with PostgreSQL?
>
>
> That's not why you want to avoid MySQL. You want to avoid MySQL
> because it's underpowered. No transactions, no foreign keys, no subselects,
> etc. etc.
>



Why is there so much mysql bashing?
I like postgresql too but I don't have to put down mysql
to justify using it.
Mysql is a simple, fast database that is quite solid from my experience.
It is usually my first choice as a web backend  for php/jsp  based websites.

I usually use postgresql on system based projects (usually in perl )
where I really need to use foreign keys and tranactions and  the
loss of data would be a very expensive thing.

The current version of mysql does have foreign keys and transactions
available via the new innodb table type. I have not used it production
yet, but I am testing them.




--
Vincent Stoessel vincent@xaymaca.com
Linux and Java Application Developer
(301) 362-1750
AIM, MSN: xaymaca2020 , Yahoo Messenger: vks_jamaica


Re: PostgreSQL the right choice?

From
Jean-Michel POURE
Date:
> That's not why you want to avoid MySQL. You want to avoid MySQL
> because it's underpowered. No transactions, no foreign keys, no subselects,
> etc. etc.

No Unicode, no large nested queries, no views, no triggers, no server-side
language : no PLpgSQL, no PLperl, etc... Poor ODBC support...

If your database is involved in a business, you need to migrate to
PostgreSQL. One day or another, MySQL limited features will hinder you.

/Jean-Michel

Re: PostgreSQL the right choice?

From
Jean-Michel POURE
Date:
Le Mercredi 13 Mars 2002 07:55, Richard Chrenko a écrit :
> MySQL looks like it's free until you want to bundle it with a commercial
> application, at which time license fees are required. What is the
> situation with PostgreSQL?

PostgreSQL is completely free for commercial and non-commercial use. pgAdmin2
(http://pgadmin.postgresql.org), PostgreSQL Windows administration interface
is completely free.

> Given that we have a Java application and don't have the manpower to
> port a DBMS, what are the platforms on which PostgreSQL is currently
> stable?

PostgreSQL is the most stable Open-source database available.

> Is it possible to deploy PostgreSQL via an installer program, then
> automatically run a script to generate the tables and populate them with
> data from flat files?

Linux : PostgreSQL 7.2can be deployed via RPM (see PostgreSQL FTP in
/binaries).
Windows : PostgreSQL 7.2 is included in Cygwin installer
(http://www.cygwin.com).

An interactive doc is available from http://www.postgresql.org/idocs/.

Cheers,
Jean-Michel POURE

Re: PostgreSQL the right choice?

From
"David Siebert"
Date:
Do you really need an SQL Database for this? I am trying to figure out why
you would need a database server with a simulation? I have heard of a
tinySQL server that is written all in java and might do what you need
without having to install and setup a database server just to run a
simulation. How big is the data set you are using? couldn't you use a flat
file for this?

-----Original Message-----
From: pgsql-general-owner@postgresql.org
[mailto:pgsql-general-owner@postgresql.org]On Behalf Of Richard Chrenko
Sent: Wednesday, March 13, 2002 1:55 AM
To: pgsql-general@postgresql.org
Subject: [GENERAL] PostgreSQL the right choice?


I have been looking for a RDBMS to deploy with our solar energy
simulation.

MySQL looks like it's free until you want to bundle it with a commercial
application, at which time license fees are required. What is the
situation with PostgreSQL?

Given that we have a Java application and don't have the manpower to
port a DBMS, what are the platforms on which PostgreSQL is currently
stable?

Is it possible to deploy PostgreSQL via an installer program, then
automatically run a script to generate the tables and populate them with
data from flat files?

Thanks for any comments.
--
Richard Chrenko, Informatik
Institut für Solartechnik SPF
Hochschule für Technik Rapperswil, Oberseestr.10, CH-8640 Rapperswil
Tel +41 55 222 48 33, Fax +41 55 222 48 44, http://www.solarenergy.ch

---------------------------(end of broadcast)---------------------------
TIP 4: Don't 'kill -9' the postmaster


Re: PostgreSQL the right choice?

From
Jasbir D
Date:
Checkout Firebird as well - which appears to be the other alternative.

    http://firebird.sourceforge.net/index.php

q: How does open source affect the costs for companies which use
Interbase or Firebird as an embedded server?

a: Firebird server and client are free of all licensing fees,
regardless of whether you download a binary or build it yourself from
the source code.


I agree that mySQL is too limited for serious use.

On Tue, 12 Mar 2002 23:50:17 -0800, "Marshall Spight"
<marshall@meetstheeye.com> wrote:

> "Richard Chrenko" <richard@solarenergy.ch> wrote in message news:3C8EF7D7.1003ECC3@solarenergy.ch...
> >
> > MySQL looks like it's free until you want to bundle it with a commercial
> > application, at which time license fees are required. What is the
> > situation with PostgreSQL?
>
> That's not why you want to avoid MySQL. You want to avoid MySQL
> because it's underpowered. No transactions, no foreign keys, no subselects,
> etc. etc.
>
>
> > Given that we have a Java application and don't have the manpower to
> > port a DBMS, what are the platforms on which PostgreSQL is currently
> > stable?
>
> I think the short answer is "all of them." It runs great on Windows (under cygwin)
> and many unix and linux.
>
> Try it out.
>
>
> Marshall
>
>