Re: [Again] Postgres performance problem

On Thu, 13 Sep 2007, Scott Marlowe wrote:

> I think both things are needed actually. The current docs were
> started back when pg 7.2 roamed the land, and they've been updated a
> bit at a time...

No argument here that ultimately the documentation needs to be updated as
well. I was just suggesting what I've been thinking about as the path of
least resistance to move in that direction. Updating the documentation is
harder to do because of the build process involved. It's easier to write
something new that addresses the deficiencies, get that right, and then
merge it into the documentation when it's stable. After the main new
content is done, then it's easier to sweep back through the existing
material and clean things up.

> Which leads me to thinking that we then need a simple tutorial on
> vacuuming to include the free space map, vacuum, vacuum analyze,
> vacuum full, and the autovacuum daemon.

Right, that's the sort of thing that's missing right now, and I think that
would be more useful to newbies than correcting the documentation that's
already there.

Also: if you don't have a public working area to assemble this document
at, I've set a precedent of sorts that it's OK to put working material
like this onto the PG developer's wiki at http://developer.postgresql.org/
as long as your stated intention is ultimately to move it off of there
once it's complete. In addition to providing a nice set of tools for
working the text (presuming you're comfortable with Wiki syntax) that will
get you a pool of reviewers/contributors who can make changes directly
rather than you needing to do all the work yourself.

--
* Greg Smith gsmith(at)gregsmith(dot)com http://www.gregsmith.com Baltimore, MD