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what about postgresql?

That is a very good question, I don't know why has it been moderated as off-topic. Naturally it is useless to compare MySQL performance to MySQL performance ignoring any other options. (It is essentially the same tactic Micro$oft is doing all the time! Do we really want to parrot them?) First of all, there are MySQL gotchas and PostgreSQL gotchas, so you have to know whether the particular glitches are acceptable for you before you decide to use either RDBMS. Understanding the relational algebra, set theory and predicate calculus is essential to understand what the relational model is all about. Lack of this knowledge often leads to confusing tuples with OOP-style objects and other stupidity, so you will save a lot of time learning it first.

Now, the performance. Generally speaking MySQL is faster for a heavy load of simple read-only queries (like Slashdot) while PostgreSQL is faster for complex read-write queries (like a bank). Once you turn on the ACID support in MySQL it is no longer so fast, and it can really crawl because of row or even table (sic!) locking, a mistake avoided for decades by any advanced database. Here is another comparison. See also this recent thread on Slashdot. One of the best comparisons of Oracle, MySQL and PostgreSQL was done by the Computer division of Fermilab (Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory), this is a must-read.

There is a lot to read about it if you need more comarisons, but the general rule of thumb is that if you want lots of very simple read-only and very few read-write queries when the integrity of your data is not critical, you should probably choose MySQL. When you need that (or better) speed but the data is critical and you need ACID transactions which would severly slow down MySQL, try SQLite, the easiest choice there is, especially using Perl where you don't even need to install it (but just like with every other database, there are SQLite gotchas too, you need to be aware of them). If you need full ANSI SQL compatibility, ACID transactions, scalability and your data integrity is important, you should probably choose Oracle or PostgreSQL. There are also licensing issues. Oracle is proprietary. MySQL is GPL so you need to pay if you want to use it in any non-GPL software. PostgreSQL is released under a free-for-all BSD license. SQLite is public domain.

As you can see, there is no one-size-fits-all database. Every one has its strengths and weaknesses. The correct choice is a matter of trade-offs and finding out which database is optimal for your particular niche. Good luck.

Silas

Until we upgraded the OS recently, we had 480 days uptime on our primary web server.

This is actually a lot more fun than racing plain old office chairs.

This is actually a lot more fun than racing plain old office chairs.

This is actually a lot more fun than racing plain old office chairs.

A bit dramatic perhaps, but I continue to think that they should have gone out with their proverbial heads held high, instead of after this miserable sequence of events...

In rural Indiana, you don't always have space to have a whole room devoted to servers and network equipment, ya know?! But I was still surprised when I visited my former ISPs local point of presence - in one of their employee's one and only bathroom at his house. Photo here. Do some laundry, take a dump, watch some network traffic go by. Uh-huh.

About a year ago I wrote an article about why Napster should have called it quits then, instead of coming to an end this way. I'd like to take this opportunity to say "I told you so." But there's a little more substance and principle to it than that, if you check out the article.

I maintain an anti-spam resource for the qmail community, which I will now shamelessly plug: http://www.summersault.com/chris/techno/qmail/qmai l-antispam.html

I think the reason there isn't more happening here is that FreeBSD is focused more on the server market. If you are running a server, you probably aren't using modem, you probably wouldn't want a WinModem, or you wouldn't mind paying for another modem if you needed to.

I would like to see the project happen as well. However, I knew that Linux has going to have better support for the Desktop environment when I set up the machine, and could have used that and gotten WinModem support on the same hardware if that was a priority.

In my case, I use FreeBSD widely for projects at work, so I chose to keep things simple by keeping the environment consistent at home.

I graduated from Earlham, a Liberal Arts College, with a computer science major in 1998. I've been involved in managing a website development company since then. I've found the required broad liberal arts base
very useful in the real world. I came out equipped with writing skills and the ability work well with groups of people, not just computers. I can't say I felt everything was 100% relevent, but I know CS at liberal arts schools has produced some other notable web ventures: Slashdot and PerlMonks come to mind.

Spam mail is getting very bad, personally I cant wait until Congress rules on it. In the meantime you have to do something, right? In my opinoin two really great sites that cover this are here and here. The first one has some vey useful tools that may help, the second is basically a how to. As for your question, What you probably need is some anti-relaying filters. Perhaps the best site for your problem is here. They have some pointers on how to secure your current mail(Qmail in your case) system against third-party relay. Along with Qmail they cover other mail systems including pmdf and Dmail. Hope I could help

"During the meeting, factory management confirmed the use of Indonesian (Marinir) soldiers in the factory; workers reported the deployment of several dozen more troops nearby the factory gate." [troops deployed to halt contract negotiations]

"Indonesia has maintained a 'security approach' to labor relations, keeping the military on strike-breaking duty in defiance of a 1994 agreement with then-U.S. trade representative Mickey Kantor. With that pledge, Indonesia was able to keep the prized special tariff treatment of the Generalized System of Preferences (GSP). But since 1994 Indonesia has made a mockery of its promises, pushing striking workers back into factories at bayonet point and jailing independent union activists."

One more for you:

"For decades, Indonesia's economy achieved dramatic growth. Economists measure growth by such standards as the gross domestic product. It is true that recent decades saw a rapid industrialization in Indonesia. For maybe 200 families, many of whom became multi-billionaires, there also was a rapid growth in wealth. For the great majority of Indonesians, however, this has been a period of immeasurable pain. By design and by default, the agricultural foundation of Indonesia's economy has collapsed, causing millions of peasants to leave the land and to head for the cities, where they became a desperate army of the unemployed, lined up outside the sweatshop hiring gates."

What you're saying is tantamount to saying, "don't blame the slave traders, blame the African governments who sold their people." Such ignorance never fails to astound me.

-Legion

--Brett

If you're in this situation, you're in big trouble no matter what MTA you're using.

Sendmail's code isn't as bad as you paint it, though. Thousands of pairs of experienced eyes have pored over it -- certainly more than for any other MTA.

If you really are concerned about Sendmail, wrap it with smtpd or use qmail. Warning: you'll still need to understand the underlying principles to control relaying and block spam and malware. And don't assume that it will necessarily be that much easier. as this FAQ explains, using spam prevention tools such as DNS blacklists with qmail is more complex than doing it with Sendmail (which requires only one line per blacklist in your .mc file).

--Brett

Note that a lot of the instructions given in the "death to spam" document can be consolidated and handed off to services like spamcop, which will do all the tracking down stuff for you and just tell you which address to send abuse complaints to. Very handy.

I have been maintaining an anti-spam HOWTO document for some time now that might be useful to read. It's written for qmail users and administrators, but does address both the theories/principles behind blocking/preventing spam, and the technical methods that can be used to actually do this. I think it's a good summary document for users, sysadmins, and managers considering these issues.

By banning drugs or publications about them, you coercively make a choice for all citizens about what is "right" for them.

By legalizing drugs or publications about them, you coercively make a choice for all citizens about what is "right" for them.

Politicians have no place making these decisions. Human beings are not all the same. We don't all live in the same house, community, or world. I assure you that 90% of the world's problems exist because we have decision makers who are empowered to make decisions for EVERYONE about how to live.

More on my thoughts about drugs and alcohol.

I maintain an anti-spam HOWTO that discusses some of the general issues of spam policies and prevention; it might be useful for this discussion. (Note that it was originally written for folks who use qmail, but much of it is relevant on a mailer-independent basis.)

I must disagree. It is true that companies will do whatever is in their self-interest but this is not always the same as the best-interests of consumers, quite often counter to the best-interests of labor, and nearly always counter to the "interests" of the environment. Without regulation it is easier and cheaper for a company to trick, disceve, and otherwise screw-over other parties than to act in "enlightened self-interest".

The free market seems to benefit a few of us in the first world but harms a great many less fortunate. If you are interested, here are some links about what the free market is doing to other countries right now:

Corporate Watch

Global Exchange

Campaign for Labor Rights

/joeyo

A copy of the official transcript of the interview, as released by the White House, is here. No mention of the "incident", though there are some good questions posed to the President and some answers worth reading.

People seem to prefer this kind of service over the cheap places that host thousands of domains but don't give you any sort of helping hand or personal service.

I'm also amazed at hosting places that guarantee you service X for life. "E-mail address for life" or "free web hosting for life", etc. just seems like a ridiculous thing to promise in this age, where mergers, changes in technology, and the whims of the end-user changes the standards of service on a daily basis. It's incredible to me that these firms might have considered the long-term resources involved in providing a service to someone who is 20 years old today, guaranteeing that it will be there when they're 80. In many cases, I doubt they *do* have a plan.

Your question might be better answered on a site more oriented towards software, e.g. Freshmeat.

I agree wholeheartedly. I think that having a thorough and honest personal website serves this end greatly as well.