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From: Bruce Momjian <maillist@candle.pha.pa.us>
Message-Id: <199906211511.LAA16346@candle.pha.pa.us>
Subject: Re: [DOCS] Suggestions for history.sgml file in tutorial
In-Reply-To: <376D9E60.D169C92@ecoaccess.org> from Fred Wilson Horch at "Jun
	20, 1999 10:07:28 pm"
To: Fred Wilson Horch <fhorch@ecoaccess.org>
Date: Mon, 21 Jun 1999 11:11:49 -0400 (EDT)
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Patch applied.


> Some suggestions to clarify the current status of PostgreSQL.  Patch
> attached.
> 
> Fred Horch

[text/html is unsupported, treating like TEXT/PLAIN]

> *** doc/src/sgml/history.sgml	Sun Jun 20 21:53:53 1999
> --- doc/src/sgml/history.sgml.new	Sun Jun 20 21:58:24 1999
> ***************
> *** 1,6 ****
> --- 1,18 ----
>   <Sect1>
>   <Title>A Short History of <ProductName>Postgres</ProductName></Title>
>   
> + <Para>
> + The Object-Relational Database Management System now known as 
> + <ProductName>PostgreSQL</ProductName> was originally called
> + <ProductName>Postgres</ProductName>, and briefly called
> + <ProductName>Postgres95</ProductName>.  With over a decade of
> + development behind it, <ProductName>PostgreSQL</ProductName> 
> + is the most advanced open-source database available anywhere,
> + offering multi-version concurrency control and supporting almost
> + all SQL constructs, including subselects, transactions, and
> + user-defined types and functions.
> + </Para>
> + 
>   <Sect2>
>   <Title>The Berkeley <ProductName>Postgres</ProductName> Project</Title>
>   
> ***************
> *** 37,44 ****
>        Version 3 appeared in 1991 and added support for  multiple
>        storage  managers,  an  improved  query executor, and a
>        rewritten rewrite rule  system.   For  the  most  part,
> !      releases  since  then  have  focused on portability and
> !      reliability.
>   </Para>
>   
>   <Para>
> --- 49,56 ----
>        Version 3 appeared in 1991 and added support for  multiple
>        storage  managers,  an  improved  query executor, and a
>        rewritten rewrite rule  system.   For  the  most  part,
> !      releases  until <ProductName>Postgres95</ProductName> (see below)
> !      focused on portability and reliability.
>   </Para>
>   
>   <Para>
> ***************
> *** 70,76 ****
>        ended with Version 4.2.
>   </Para>
>   </Sect2>
> !      
>   <Sect2>
>   <Title><ProductName>Postgres95</ProductName></Title>
>   
> --- 82,88 ----
>        ended with Version 4.2.
>   </Para>
>   </Sect2>
> ! 
>   <Sect2>
>   <Title><ProductName>Postgres95</ProductName></Title>
>   
> ***************
> *** 79,155 ****
>   <ULink url="mailto:ayu@informix.com">Andrew Yu</ULink>
>   and
>   <ULink url="http://http.cs.berkeley.edu/~jolly/">Jolly Chen</ULink>
> ! added a SQL language interpreter to <ProductName>Postgres</ProductName>, 
> ! and the code was subsequently released to
> ! the Web to find its own way in the world. 
> ! <ProductName>Postgres95</ProductName> was a public-domain, open source descendant
> ! of this original Berkeley code.
>   </Para>
>   
>   <Para>
> ! <ProductName>Postgres95</ProductName> is a derivative of the last official release
> ! of  <ProductName>Postgres</ProductName>  (version 4.2). The code is now completely
> !      ANSI C and the code size has been trimmed by 25%. There
> !      are  a lot of internal changes that improve performance
> ! and code maintainability. 
> ! <ProductName>Postgres95</ProductName> v1.0.x runs about  30-50%
> !      faster  on  the  Wisconsin  Benchmark compared to v4.2.
> !      Apart from bug fixes, these are the major enhancements:
>   
>   <ItemizedList>
>   <ListItem>
>   <Para>
> !       	The query language <ProductName>Postquel</ProductName> has been replaced with
> !         	<Acronym>SQL</Acronym> (implemented in the server). We do  not yet support
> !         	subqueries  (which can be imitated with user defined
> !         	<Acronym>SQL</Acronym> functions). Aggregates  have  been
> !         	re-implemented.  We also added support for ``GROUP BY''.
> !         	The <FileName>libpq</FileName> interface is still available  for  <Acronym>C</Acronym>  
>           	programs.
>   </Para>
>   </ListItem>
>   <ListItem>
>   <Para>
> !       	In addition to the monitor program, we provide a new
> !         	program (<Application>psql</Application>) which supports <Acronym>GNU</Acronym> <FileName>readline</FileName>.
>   </Para>
>   </ListItem>
>   <ListItem>
>   <Para>
> !       	We added a new  front-end  library,  <FileName>libpgtcl</FileName>,  that
> !         	supports  <Acronym>Tcl</Acronym>-based  clients.   A sample shell, 
> !         	pgtclsh, provides new Tcl  commands  to  interface  <Application>tcl</Application>
>           	programs with the <ProductName>Postgres95</ProductName> backend.
>   </Para>
>   </ListItem>
>   <ListItem>
>   <Para>
> !       	The  large  object interface has been overhauled. We
> !         	kept Inversion large objects as the  only  mechanism
> !         	for  storing  large objects. (This is not to be 
> !         	confused with the Inversion file system which has  been
> !         	removed.)
>   </Para>
>   </ListItem>
>   <ListItem>
>   <Para>
> !       	The  instance-level  rule  system  has been removed.
> !         	Rules are still available as rewrite rules.
>   </Para>
>   </ListItem>
>   <ListItem>
>   <Para>
>         	A short tutorial introducing regular <Acronym>SQL</Acronym> features as
> !         	well as those of ours is distributed with the source
> !         	code.
>   </Para>
>   </ListItem>
>   <ListItem>
>   <Para>
> !       	<Acronym>GNU</Acronym> make (instead of  <Acronym>BSD</Acronym>  make)  is  used  for  the
> !         	build.  Also,  <ProductName>Postgres95</ProductName>  can  be  compiled with an
> !         	unpatched <ProductName>gcc</ProductName> (data alignment of  doubles  has  been
> !         	fixed).
>   </Para>
>   </ListItem>
>   </ItemizedList>
> --- 91,165 ----
>   <ULink url="mailto:ayu@informix.com">Andrew Yu</ULink>
>   and
>   <ULink url="http://http.cs.berkeley.edu/~jolly/">Jolly Chen</ULink>
> ! added a SQL language interpreter to <ProductName>Postgres</ProductName>.
> ! <ProductName>Postgres95</ProductName> was subsequently released to
> ! the Web to find its own way in the world as a public-domain,
> ! open source descendant of the original <ProductName>Postgres</ProductName>
> ! Berkeley code.
>   </Para>
>   
>   <Para>
> !      <ProductName>Postgres95</ProductName> code was completely
> !      ANSI C and trimmed in size by 25%. Many
> !      internal changes improved performance and maintainability. 
> ! <ProductName>Postgres95</ProductName> v1.0.x ran about  30-50%
> !      faster  on  the  Wisconsin  Benchmark compared to 
> ! <ProductName>Postgres</ProductName> v4.2.
> !      Apart from bug fixes, these were the major enhancements:
>   
>   <ItemizedList>
>   <ListItem>
>   <Para>
> !       	The query language <ProductName>Postquel</ProductName> was replaced with
> !         	<Acronym>SQL</Acronym> (implemented in the server). Subqueries were not supported until <ProductName>PostgreSQL</ProductName> (see below), but they
> ! could be imitated in <ProductName>Postgres95</ProductName> with user-defined
> !         	<Acronym>SQL</Acronym> functions. Aggregates were
> !         	re-implemented.  Support for ``GROUP BY'' was also added.
> !         	The <FileName>libpq</FileName> interface remained available  for  <Acronym>C</Acronym>  
>           	programs.
>   </Para>
>   </ListItem>
>   <ListItem>
>   <Para>
> ! In addition to the monitor program, a new program
> ! (<Application>psql</Application>) was provided for interactive SQL queries
> ! using <Acronym>GNU</Acronym> <FileName>readline</FileName>.
>   </Para>
>   </ListItem>
>   <ListItem>
>   <Para>
> !       	A new  front-end  library,  <FileName>libpgtcl</FileName>,
> !         	supported  <Acronym>Tcl</Acronym>-based  clients.   A sample shell, 
> !         	pgtclsh, provided new Tcl  commands  to  interface  <Application>tcl</Application>
>           	programs with the <ProductName>Postgres95</ProductName> backend.
>   </Para>
>   </ListItem>
>   <ListItem>
>   <Para>
> ! The  large  object interface was overhauled. The Inversion large objects were
> ! the  only  mechanism for  storing  large objects.
> ! (The Inversion file system was removed.)
>   </Para>
>   </ListItem>
>   <ListItem>
>   <Para>
> !       	The  instance-level  rule  system  was removed.
> !         	Rules were still available as rewrite rules.
>   </Para>
>   </ListItem>
>   <ListItem>
>   <Para>
>         	A short tutorial introducing regular <Acronym>SQL</Acronym> features as
> !         	well as those of <ProductName>Postgres95</ProductName> was
> !  distributed with the source code.
>   </Para>
>   </ListItem>
>   <ListItem>
>   <Para>
> ! <Acronym>GNU</Acronym> make (instead of  <Acronym>BSD</Acronym>  make)  was  used
> ! for  the build.  Also,  <ProductName>Postgres95</ProductName>  could  be
> ! compiled with an unpatched <ProductName>gcc</ProductName>
> ! (data alignment of  doubles  was fixed).
>   </Para>
>   </ListItem>
>   </ItemizedList>
> ***************
> *** 160,193 ****
>   <Title><ProductName>PostgreSQL</ProductName></Title>
>   
>   <Para>
> ! By 1996, it became clear that the name <Quote>Postgres95</Quote> would not stand
> ! the test of time. A new name, <ProductName>PostgreSQL</ProductName>, 
> ! was chosen to reflect the
> ! relationship between original <ProductName>Postgres</ProductName> 
> ! and the more recent
> ! versions with <Acronym>SQL</Acronym> capability. 
> ! At the same time, the version numbering
> ! was reset to start at 6.0, 
> ! putting the numbers back into the sequence originally begun by
> ! the <ProductName>Postgres</ProductName> Project.
>   </Para>
>   
>   <Para>
> ! The emphasis on development for the v1.0.x releases of 
> ! <ProductName>Postgres95</ProductName>
> ! was on stabilizing the backend code.
> ! With the v6.x series of <ProductName>PostgreSQL</ProductName>, 
> ! the emphasis has shifted from
> ! identifying and understanding existing problems in the backend 
> ! to augmenting features and capabilities, although
>   work continues in all areas.
>   </Para>
>   
>   <Para>
> ! Major enhancements include:
>   </Para>
>   
>   <ItemizedList>
>   <ListItem>
>   <Para>
>   Important backend features, including subselects, defaults, 
> --- 170,206 ----
>   <Title><ProductName>PostgreSQL</ProductName></Title>
>   
>   <Para>
> ! By 1996, it became clear that the name <Quote>Postgres95</Quote> would
> ! not stand the test of time. We chose a new name,
> ! <ProductName>PostgreSQL</ProductName>, to reflect the relationship
> ! between the original <ProductName>Postgres</ProductName> and the more
> ! recent versions with <Acronym>SQL</Acronym> capability.  At the same
> ! time, we set the version numbering to start at 6.0, putting the
> ! numbers back into the sequence originally begun by the
> ! <ProductName>Postgres</ProductName> Project.
>   </Para>
>   
>   <Para>
> ! The emphasis during development of <ProductName>Postgres95</ProductName>
> ! was on identifying and understanding existing problems in the backend code.
> ! With <ProductName>PostgreSQL</ProductName>, 
> ! the emphasis has shifted to augmenting features and capabilities, although
>   work continues in all areas.
>   </Para>
>   
>   <Para>
> ! Major enhancements in <ProductName>PostgreSQL</ProductName> include:
>   </Para>
>   
>   <ItemizedList>
> + <ListItem>
> + <Para>
> + Table-level locking has been replaced with multi-version concurrency control,
> + which allows readers to continue reading consistent data during writer activity
> + and enables hot backups from pg_dump while the database stays available for
> + queries.
> + </Para>
> + </ListItem>
>   <ListItem>
>   <Para>
>   Important backend features, including subselects, defaults, 


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