From: Fred Wilson Horch <fhorch@ecoaccess.org>
To: pgsql-docs@hub.org
Subject: Suggestions for history.sgml file in tutorial
Date: Sun, 20 Jun 1999 22:07:28 -0400
Message-ID: <376D9E60.D169C92@ecoaccess.org> (raw)
Some suggestions to clarify the current status of PostgreSQL. Patch
attached.
Fred Horch
Attachments:history.sgml.patch (text/html, 10.5K) download
*** 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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To: pgsql-docs@postgresql.org
Cc: fhorch@ecoaccess.org, pgsql-docs@hub.org
Subject: Re: Suggestions for history.sgml file in tutorial
In-Reply-To: <376D9E60.D169C92@ecoaccess.org>
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