X-Original-To: pgsql-hackers-postgresql.org@localhost.postgresql.org Received: from localhost (unknown [200.46.204.2]) by svr1.postgresql.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id B741BD1B51A for ; Thu, 16 Oct 2003 00:49:49 +0000 (GMT) Received: from svr1.postgresql.org ([200.46.204.71]) by localhost (neptune.hub.org [200.46.204.2]) (amavisd-new, port 10024) with ESMTP id 78720-01 for ; Wed, 15 Oct 2003 21:49:22 -0300 (ADT) Received: from relay2.EECS.Berkeley.EDU (relay2.EECS.Berkeley.EDU [169.229.60.28]) by svr1.postgresql.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id A538AD1B502 for ; Wed, 15 Oct 2003 21:49:18 -0300 (ADT) Received: from relay3.EECS.Berkeley.EDU (localhost [127.0.0.1]) by relay2.EECS.Berkeley.EDU (8.12.10/8.9.3) with ESMTP id h9G0nKD7026586 for ; Wed, 15 Oct 2003 17:49:21 -0700 (PDT) Received: from datafix.cs.berkeley.edu (datafix.CS.Berkeley.EDU [128.32.37.185]) by relay3.EECS.Berkeley.EDU (8.12.10/8.9.3) with ESMTP id h9G0nJ9L024153; Wed, 15 Oct 2003 17:49:20 -0700 (PDT) Reply-To: sailesh@cs.berkeley.edu X-URL: http://www.cs.berkeley.edu/~sailesh X-Attribution: Sailesh To: Tom Lane Cc: James Rogers , pgsql-hackers@postgresql.org Subject: Re: Database Kernels and O_DIRECT References: <15890.1066232585@sss.pgh.pa.us> From: Sailesh Krishnamurthy Date: Wed, 15 Oct 2003 17:49:19 -0700 In-Reply-To: <15890.1066232585@sss.pgh.pa.us> (Tom Lane's message of "Wed, 15 Oct 2003 11:43:05 -0400") Message-ID: User-Agent: Gnus/5.1002 (Gnus v5.10.2) XEmacs/21.4 (Reasonable Discussion, linux) MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii X-Virus-Scanned: by amavisd-new at postgresql.org X-Archive-Number: 200310/761 X-Sequence-Number: 45443 >>>>> "Tom" == Tom Lane writes: Tom> I tend to agree with the opinion that Oracle's architecture Tom> is based on twenty-year-old assumptions. Back then it was Tom> reasonable to assume that database-specific algorithms could Tom> outperform a general-purpose operating system. In today's Tom> environment that assumption is not a given. In fact: Michael Stonebraker: Operating System Support for Database Management. CACM 24(7): 412-418 (1981) Abstract: Several operating system services are examined with a view toward their applicability to support of database management functions. These services include buffer pool management; the file system; scheduling, process management, and interprocess communication; and consistency control. -- Pip-pip Sailesh http://www.cs.berkeley.edu/~sailesh