Re: Embedding postgresql in an application

Josh, one other reason that I have heard is to get some portability and uniformity between Windows and Ubuntu. The process of installing Postgresql from the command line will be more or less the same on the two platforms which is, unzip the bundled zip file.

The issue of compatibility with the shared libraries is still there and it looks like the developers have handled it by testing and upgrading those system libraries when required. Maybe because Postgresql has been "well behaved" in this area that they have been able to get away with the cost of upgrading system libraries most of the time.

What it seems to me is that the developers started long ago with using hand made legacy approaches to solve Popstgresql installation from the command line on Ubuntu and Windows, and that project has taken a life of its own. Nobody is looking at any new approaches to the problem. At least this is what appears to me looking from the outside.

Regards,
Sam

--- On Thu, 4/4/13, Josh Berkus <josh(at)agliodbs(dot)com> wrote:

> From: Josh Berkus <josh(at)agliodbs(dot)com>
> Subject: Re: [sfpug] Embedding postgresql in an application
> To: "Sam Talebbeik" <sam777t(at)yahoo(dot)com>
> Cc: sfpug(at)postgresql(dot)org
> Date: Thursday, April 4, 2013, 6:17 PM
> Sam,
>
> > Josh, I am trying to figure out all the reasons and
> navigate through
> > this myself. I can give two reasons. It may or may not
> be strong
> > reasons from your point of view.
>
> Neither of them are very good reasons from my point of
> view.  Both
> reasons can be solved more easily than creating your own
> packaging.
>
> Mostly, it seems like you're asking asking "I want to get
> from Chicago
> to Atlanta via Dubai".  Possible, but difficult and
> rather roundabout
> for no good reason.
>
> > I have been able to manually install and bring up
> postgresql on
> > Ubuntu 12.04 desktop version using the binary tar file
> from
> > EnterpriseDB web site. It was very straightforward. I
> am not arguing
> > that this is the most optimum way, but I still believe
> that the good
> > old option of expanding a binary tar file on Unix
> should work and it
> > may come handy in certain situations. Even Firefox
> folks have not
> > abandoned this approach and you can still get the
> binary tar files
> > from their ftp web site.
>
> Your big issue there is library dependancies and
> linking.  PostgreSQL
> doesn't have many, but it does have a few.  If you
> expand binaries on a
> system which has a later version of glibc, for example, you
> might get
> some unexpected behavior.  This sort of thing is why we
> *have* packaging
> systems.  Also, then you need to package up updates for
> your customers
> every time a PostgreSQL update comes out, instead of relying
> on the OS
> vendor or community.
>
> --
> Josh Berkus
> PostgreSQL Experts Inc.
> http://pgexperts.com
>