Is there a way to run Postgres in embedded mode? More precisely, to run it without using TCP/IP port, and without installing as a service? I am aware of Unix-domain sockets, but is there something similar for Windows?
on unix, as you imply, it can be run with unix domain sockets, but not on Windows as they simply don't have this interface. and, it can be started as an application rather than as a system service, but it still runs as a separate process from your application(s) and in my book, thats not really embedded.
within Windows there is the concept of a "named pipe". You could dig into the communication code of Postgres which puts data through the unix-socket, and write an "named pipe" communicator. PostgreSQL would still be running in its own process, but only accessable from within the application. Be aware: that is an idea for a solution; it is neither included nor projected for PostgreSQL.
Harald
-- GHUM Harald Massa persuadere et programmare Harald Armin Massa Spielberger Straße 49 70435 Stuttgart 0173/9409607 no fx, no carrier pigeon - %s is too gigantic of an industry to bend to the whims of reality