Can't remember if it was in this forum, but a few people asked why I
was downloading source and not binary. The reason is that I am
experimenting with a different indexing (multi-dimensional) method.
I looked hard at GiST, but it doesn't look like GiST supports multi-
dimensional indexing methods unless all the dimensions are in a single
column (i.e. some type of composite UDT). I need to see each column
in the index before making a decision about search paths to take,
branches to follow, etc. GiST appears to support one column at a time
- i.e. if my index is lastname, firstname, then take a look at
lastname, and if that's a tie, then look at firstname. But it won't
let you look at lastname and firstname at the same time, then make
decisions about what to do (if I am interpreting correctly). I need
to evaluate each column in the index and compare it to all other index
entries in a given page. But I would sure like to take advantage of
the general integration of GiST indexing into postgres, including
concurrency and recovery (as opposed to building this from scratch or
adapting the existing GiST code to do what I need). Also, I don't
have the luxury of knowing the contents of my indexes in advance, so
putting together UDT's is out of the question for me. If I missed
something here, let me know.
I'm a newcomer to postgres, and have scoured the normal docs at
www.postgresql.org as well as newsgroup/mailing lists going back
years. I was hoping to find some development oriented docs too, if
anyone is aware of more resources. I am reluctant to pepper a very
experienced community with dumb questions.
Help is much appreciated.