Re: [pgsql-advocacy] Increased company involvement

On 5/6/05, Magnus Hagander <mha(at)sollentuna(dot)net> wrote:
> > > Actually, if the number of "split files" (whatever their names)
>
>
> > >> postgresql-WTKS.tar.gz (with the kitchen sink) file
> > that contained
> > >> everything for those that really wanted to download "it all" ...
> > >
> > > That would be "postgresql-x.y.z.tar.gz", right? ;-)
> >
> > Nope, postgresql-x.y.z.tar.gz will just be the core
> > distribution ...the WTKS will be the 'with the kitchen sink'
> > meta distribution and would be in the subdir that you propose
> > above ... in fact, I doubt that the WTKS will even be ready
> > for the next release, as it will involve alot of work on the
> > build system itself, I would think ... the 'cascading
> > configure's could be interesting in itself ...
>
> Please. *Nobody* will know what postgresql-wkts-x.y.z.tar.gz is. It's
> hard enough to understand the splits as they are now (what really is in
> -opt for example? I know it's in the readme, but users don't read that),
> and this will certainly not make it easier.

Hello,

If I understood correctly, this 'wtks' distribution will contain what is now
in the postgresql-?.?.?.tar.gz , plus other additional things like
additional PLs ( which now have to be downloaded and compiled
separately ) ? Seems to be a great idea , but i agree that the
contents of the postgresql-?.?.?.tar.gz tarballs should not be reduced !

Once this 'wtks' will be available, I bet that most people who are
aware of its existance will prefer to download it because it would
be much more convenient. The name of the package will need
to be carefully chosen, though. "wtks" does not seem to be a good
choice ( native English speakers surely know what is a 'kitchen sink',
but I really don't understand what it means) .

Just wondering: would it be feasible to expand the existing contrib
directory to a system similar to the BSD ports collection ?
One would type:
cd postgresql-8.1.0/contrib/pls/pljava
make install
( which would download the pljava sources from pgfoundry,
build it and install )

With such a system in place, various modules could be installed
in a unique manner no matter where they are hosted. And they
would gain visibility ...

Best wishes,
Adrian Maier

> > > Bottom line - make it easy for the *newbies*. Those of us who know
> > > exactly what we want will know where to look for it (say in
> > a separate
> > > subdir). (or we'll just download the whole tarball anyway
> > because that
> > > is *way* much more convenient... Speaking for myself there, of
> > > course.)
> >
> > Note that "the whole tar ball" will give you the core server
> > and that is it ... the WTKS is a whole seperate project from
> > what is being planned ...
> >
> > What is being worked on right now is effectively reducing
> > things down to:
> >
> > postgresql-server (including libpq)
> > postgresql-<insert add on here>
>
> Um. So instead of as I do today:
> wget
> http://ftp.sunet.se/pub/databases/relational/postgresql/source/v8.0.2/po
> stgresql-8.0.2.tar.bz2
> tar xjf postgresql-8.0.2.tar.bz2
> ./configure --with-perl --with-python --with-tcl
> gmake && gmake install
>
> I'll now have to do:
> wget
> http://ftp.sunet.se/pub/databases/relational/postgresql/source/v8.0.2/po
> stgresql-docs-8.0.2.tar.bz2
> tar xjf postgresql-docs-8.0.2.tar.bz2
> ./configure
> gmake && gmake install
>
> Remind me again how this is actually *better*, and not just making life
> a whole lot worse for me? And more specifically, for a new user that
> doesn't know which files to download already, and will just grab the
> default file.
>
> Pulling the interfaces out of the main tarball was bad enough, but it
> had point - ODBC and JDBC need to work with different versions, and may
> be released as different times. Please don't do the same for PLs.