> On Sun, Jan 29, 2006 at 03:15:06PM -0500, Mark Woodward wrote:
>> > Postgres generally seems to favor extensibility over integration, and
>> I
>> > generally agree with that approach.
>>
>> I generally agree as well, but.....
>>
>> I think there is always a balance between "out of the box" vs
>> "extensibility." I think integration and extensibility is fantastic for
>> addaptation of your product, but "oobe" (out of box experience) is
>> important for those you want to target.
>>
>> By all practical measure PostgreSQL is miles ahead of MySQL, but MySQL
>> wins because it is the defacto PHP database. PostgreSQL does not target
>> PHP in any real sense, I am proposing adding this extension to change
>> that.
>
> Rather than try and include everything and the kitchen-sink in the
> baseline PostgreSQL, why not create a set of PHP targeted
> ports/packages? Maybe even bundle Apache in there so you've got your own
> 'LAPP' stack? (Though being a FreeBSD guy, I'd rather have 'FAPP'...)
> One of the key advantages to this approach is that now you can really
> create a package that makes sense to the target audience by doing things
> like automatically including PHP as a procedure language.
>
> And of course, there's no reason this has to be limited to just PHP...
It gets so frustrating sometimes, it isn't so black and white, there are
many levels of gray. The PostgreSQL project is trying so hard to be
neutral, that it is making itself irrelevant.
Designing and including features that a large group of users would like to
have makes sense. Regardless of my extension, I'd love to see PostgreSQL
get a little pro-active in positioning itself better.