John,
> i got 7.3b2 to build with gcc2 and --no-readline (i didn't have the
> readline libraries i guess)
>
> what is readline? i don't know if i will need it.
In PSQL, readline lets you use the "up arrow" key to re-run your
previous commands, and tab to auto-complete table names. That's all
it does.
Very useful if you're a heavy PSQL user, but dispensable if you intend
to use a GUI for database interaction.
-Josh