PostgreSQL 8.0 Released

Christopher Cashell writes "The PostgreSQL project has released version 8.0 of their well known Object-Relational Database. New features include: Win32 Native Server, Savepoints, Point-In-Time Recovery, Tablespaces, and lots more. Downloads are available via bittorrent for Unix/Linux, and the much anticipated Win32 version, or via ftp (use a mirror!)." (Here's the official announcement.)

Comments

Magical upgrade needed

[inflex]

Now all I need is a magical installer which will convert my existing 7.2.4 systems to 8.x without missing a single beat or disrupting the existing programs written against the old libs.... I'm serious!

Converting 200Gb of data is not something you want to try do without downtime.

All that said, it's good to see PostgreSQL always improving. Good one guys.

Re:plperl

[StrawberryFrog]

One of the most exciting features of 8.0 is plperl, their Perl-based server side language

I'm not convinced. SQL is supposed to a standard, so you can move from one database server to another with not much effort. This is a big step away from that. Much like the features you'd find in Oracle or MS SQL.

Or LAPP

[Quattro Vezina]

LAPP, maybe, but certainly not WAPP.

Linux + Apache2 + PostgreSQL + Python == kickass webserver

It's easier to install and admin than mysql

[hqm]

The dirty secret is that Postgres is actually easier to install and administer than mysql. I don't want to get into a religious argument with mysql users but ... oh hell yes I do.

I have worked with self-educated programmers who did not know how to do simple table joins or even modestly complex SQL queries or transactions, because they had learned what they thought was SQL by using Mysql. There is a whole generation of developers who now think that transactions aren't really necessary in a database application.

Postgres is really an Oracle killer at this point, and I know, having used Oracle. There is quite simply no reason to use any other relational database at this point, especially to back a live web site.

the Oracle comparison

[justins]

Oracle will always have more features than any other given database product you care to compare it to, and there will always be those who find some of those Oracle-unique features irresistable. That's what it means to be the central product of a very large, wealthy and reasonably effective software company.

It is not a very meaningful comparison, though. Oracle also has a lot of stuff that nobody would be happy to see tacked on to PostgreSQL. Oracle is notoriously difficult to administer. The download of Oracle's database product is probably 500 times larger than PostgreSQL. (and 20 times larger than Oracle itself was just a few versions ago, which is interesting, and yes I'm guesstimating but still...)

In short, PostgreSQL doesn't need all the features of the Oracle db to be successful, as *nix and NT did not need all the features of a mainframe OS to be successful.