Re: PostgreSQL Certification

tino(at)wildenhain(dot)de (Tino Wildenhain) writes:

> Am Montag, den 13.06.2005, 11:42 -0400 schrieb Chris Browne:
>> t-ishii(at)sra(dot)co(dot)jp (Tatsuo Ishii) writes:
>> >> For the contents too. I dont think the source code installation
>> >> should be so much in the focus of the certification.
>> >
>> > Since PostgreSQL is an open source database, I think it is important
>> > to understand how to install PostgreSQL from the source code.
>>
>> There will be cases where you'll really need this, particularly if
>> using extension packages.
>>
>> For instance, it is likely that Slony-I will be fairly easily
>> available in precompiled form for PostgreSQL 8.0. On the other hand,
>> there probably won't be RPM packages (or the like) for version 7.4,
>> which means that if you want to use Slony-I for a version upgrade,
>> there will be a need to compile it, and there's a fair likelihood that
>> you'll need to compile PostgreSQL as well.
>>
>> That's just one application; I'm sure there are plenty of others.
>>
>> And there is also the point: "What good is it to be using an 'open
>> source' database if you aren't competent to use that source?"
>
> Sure, but still this is not really a DBA task but a sysadmin task.
> I would range it as usefull secondary knowledge.

There is a pretty ambiguous edge, there.

It's usually the DBAs that monitor the PostgreSQL mailing lists,
watching for issues; it is we that will know best how to check if
there are compile flags or contrib components that need to be added.

In these "package managed" days, if it is fair to imagine that DBAs
might not need to know how to compile PostgreSQL because "that's a
sysadmin problem," it is equally fair to imagine that sysadmins might
throw it back to the DBAs because they consider themselves responsible
for installing and configuring "just packages."
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