> > But seriously, let me give some background. I used Ingres, that used
> > the VMS file system, but used strange sequential AAAF324 numbers for
> > tables. When someone deleted a table, or we were looking at what
> > tables were using disk space, it was impossible to find the Ingres
> > table names that went with the file. There was a system table that
> > showed it, but it was poorly documented, and if you deleted the table,
> > there was no way to look on the tape to find out which file to
> > restore.
>
> I had the same experience, but let's put the blame where it belongs: it
> wasn't the filename's fault, it was poor design and support from the
> Ingres company.
Yes, that certainly was part of the cause. Also, if the PostgreSQL
files are backed up using tar while no database activity is happening,
there is no reason the tar restore will not work. You just create a
table with the same schema, stop the postmaster, have the backup file
replace the newly created table file, and restart the postmaster.
I can't tell you how many times I have said, "Man, whoever did this
Ingres naming schema was an idiot. Do they know how many problems they
caused for us?"
Also, Informix standard engine uses the tablename_oid setup for its
table names, and it works fine. It grabs the first 8 characters of the
table, and plops some unique number on the end of it. Works fine for
administrators.
-- Bruce Momjian | http://www.op.net/~candle pgman@candle.pha.pa.us | (610)
853-3000+ If your life is a hard drive, | 830 Blythe Avenue + Christ can be your backup. | Drexel Hill,
Pennsylvania19026