Re: Machine available for community use

Greg Smith <gsmith@gregsmith.com> writes:
> But this is pushing forward PostgreSQL development you're doing here.  If 
> you've got a problem such that something works differently based on the 
> order in which you built the packages, which is going to be unique to 
> every Linux distribution already, that is itself noteworthy and deserves 
> engineering out.  You might think of this high-end machine being a little 
> different as usefully adding diversity robustness in a similar way to how 
> the buildfarm helps improve the core right now.

Actually, the thing that's concerning me is *exactly* lack of diversity.
If we have just one of these things then there's a significant risk of
unconsciously tuning PG towards that specific platform.  I'd rather we
take that risk with a well-standardized, widely used platform than with
something no one else can reproduce.

Really there's a pretty good argument for having several different OS'es
available on the box --- I wonder whether Gavin is up to managing some
sort of VM or multiboot setup.
        regards, tom lane