public inbox for [email protected]  

help / color / mirror / Atom feed

From: Shridhar Daithankar <[email protected]>
To: [email protected]
Subject: Re: PostgreSQL vs. MySQL
Date: Fri, 04 Jul 2003 20:19:16 +0530
Message-ID: <3F05E144.10448.6784AB@localhost> (raw)
In-Reply-To: <[email protected]>
References: <[email protected]>

On 4 Jul 2003 at 16:35, Michael Mattox wrote:

> I see this as a major problem.  How many people run postgres, decide it's
> too slow and give up without digging into the documentation or coming to
> this group?  This seems to be pretty common.  Even worst, they tell 10
> others how slow Postgres is and then it gets a bad reputation.
> 
> In my opinion the defaults should be set up for a typical database server
> machine.

Well, there are few major reasons defaults are the way they are and the reason 
it hurts the way they are

1. Postgresql expects to start on every machine on which it can run. Now some 
of the arcane platforms need kernel recompilation to raise SHMMAX and defaults 
to 1MB.

2. Postgresql uses shared memory being process based architecture. Mysql uses 
process memory being threaded application. It does not need  kernel settings to 
work and usually works best it can.

3. We expect users/admins to be reading docs. If one does not read docs, it 
does not matter what defaults are. Sooner or later, it is going to fall on it's 
face.

4. Unlike likes of Oracle, postgresql does not pre-claim resources and starts 
hogging the system, replacing OS whereever possible. No it does not work that 
way..

One thing always strikes me. Lot of people(Not you Michael!..:-)) would 
complain that postgresql is slow and needs tweaking are not bothered by the 
fact that oracle needs almost same kind of and same amount of tweaking to get 
somewhere. Perception matterrs a lot.

I would have whined for java as well but this is not the forum for that..:-)

On a positive note, me and Josh are finishing a bare bone performance article 
that would answer lot of your questions. I am counting on you to provide 
valuable feedback. I expect it out tomorrow or on sunday..Josh will confirm 
that..


 
Bye
 Shridhar

--
Theorem: a cat has nine tails.Proof:	No cat has eight tails. A cat has one tail 
more than no cat.	Therefore, a cat has nine tails.

view thread (66+ messages)  latest in thread

reply

Reply instructions:

You may reply publicly to this message via plain-text email
using any one of the following methods:

* Reply to all the recipients using the --to and --cc options:
  reply via email

  To: [email protected]
  Cc: [email protected], [email protected]
  Subject: Re: PostgreSQL vs. MySQL
  In-Reply-To: <3F05E144.10448.6784AB@localhost>

* Save the following mbox file, import it into your mail client,
  and reply-to-all from there: mbox

This inbox is served by agora; see mirroring instructions
for how to clone and mirror all data and code used for this inbox