Re: database...mysql or postgresql

On Fri, 31 Jan 2003 10:57:00 -0800 "James A. Peltier" <james@site-fx.net> wrote:

> taproot420 wrote:
> > The groupware
> > application "PHProjekt" requires a database and the documentation says
> > mysql or postgresql will work. I have never worked with databases
> before
> > so i was wondering which of the two is considered a better relational
> > database?

...
> Your asking about something that is really a matter of opinion. Really

note that some of this stuff is starting to show up in MySQL, which leads to two points:

1. the PostgreSQL stuff was designed in from the start, it's been there for years, and may therefore be regarded as pretty stable and well thought out.
2. originally, MySQL eschewed a lot of these features in the name of speed. the fact that they're showing up now is interesting. it says something about the MySQL project, but i'm entirely not sure what. maybe they've figured out how to make them fast, maybe they have decided they need to have them after all, and maybe they are ultra-competitive and decided that they needed feature lists with all the checkboxes checked (not the same thing as deciding that they really need the feature.)

a key point, though, is that transactions alone are a very complex thing to implement, with implications that touch everything in the database internals. i am personally wary of a "latecomer" transaction scheme.

> PostgreSQL is a very good database, many even compare it to Oracle.

MySQL is also good at the things it was originally intended to do. i'm not sure how good it is at the new stuff, or if the addition of the new stuff has affected the old stuff. most all of my new project work has been in PostgreSQL, because of the stable support for transactions, stored procedures, triggers, and rules. referential integrity is also very nice, it helps catch mistakes early on in a database project.

having said that -- you're using a web application which doesn't apparently concern itself too much about what database is behind it. this suggests that it's looking for a minimum set of SQL functionality. in such a case, i might be inclined to look at MySQL because of MySQL's origins as a "stripped" model.

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basically, if you're just installing an app, and the app doesn't care, then either will work fine.

if there's a possibilty of coding up new apps, i personally would go for postgres every time due to the richer environment. once you understand transactions and referential integrity, you will tend to insist on them.

richard

[re oracle comparison for postgresql -- postgresql is better at some things than oracle, but worse at some important items. postgresql is moving fast, though.]

--
Richard Welty                                         rwelty@averillpark.net
Averill Park Networking                                         518-573-7592
              Unix, Linux, IP Network Engineering, Security