Tom,
> Having to recompile to run on single- vs dual-processor machines doesn't
> seem like it would fly.
Oh, I don't know. Many applications require compiling for a target
architecture; SQL Server, for example, won't use a 2nd processor without
re-installation. I'm not sure about Oracle.
It certainly wasn't too long ago that Linux gurus were esposing re-compiling
the kernel for the machine.
And it's not like they would *have* to re-compile to use PostgreSQL after
adding an additional processor. Just if they wanted to maximize peformance
benefit.
Also, this is a fairly rare circumstance, I think; to judge by my clients,
once a database server is in production nobody touches the hardware.
--
-Josh Berkus
Aglio Database Solutions
San Francisco