Jeff Davis wrote:
> On Thu, 2006-11-09 at 10:16 +0000, Richard Huxton wrote:
>> Bill wrote:
>>> Jorge Godoy wrote:
>>>
>>>> I have the impression that you're missing a lot of sections in the
>>>> manual... How about some time to re-read it?
>>> I don't know about you but for me a 1500 page manual is at least two
>>> weeks of full time reading.<g> I have read several sections of it but I
>>> am trying to decide if PostgreSQL should be considered for a project
>>> and I don't have 80 hours to make the evaluation.
>> If you don't have 80 hours to evaluate a new database, I'd suggest
>> sticking with whatever you're already familiar with. You only have to
>> hit a couple of minor problems with your implementation to consume more
>> than 80 hours. If you're up against timescales that short, then stick to
>> technologies you already know front-to-back.
>
> If we turn away everyone who was "trying to decide if PostgreSQL should
> be considered", I think that we're failing in the advocacy department.
True enough. But its better he use something else than have a bad
experience with PG. Look at how long the "difficult to install" story
hung around after the 6.5 days (when it was too fiddly to be fair).
> It may be just a preliminary analysis to see which databases claim to
> meet the application's requirements. Perhaps he doesn't already have a
> team of DBAs that know any RDBMS front-to-back.
Part of what was worrying me was Bill was asking a series of small
questions. Of course he's not to know that the PG lists are among the
best on the 'net and he's probably trying to keep his questions specific
and answerable (which they were).
> However, you're right. If Bill is already familiar with one product,
> it's probably a mistake to jump blind into any new RDBMS on an important
> project;
I'm sure we've all done it, either from enthusiasm or management diktat.
Invariably I've regretted trying to do something new with new (to me)
technology.
> * The docs are great, but it's a complex subject, everything's inter-
> related, and the words you're looking for aren't always obvious.
The .pgpass file is my favourite. I can see how it's part of the libpq
chapter, but I'd always have to spend an hour trying to remember that fact.
--
Richard Huxton
Archonet Ltd