Thread

Interbase replacement

David Warnock <david@sundayta.co.uk> — 1999-12-22T13:10:34Z

Hi,

We use Postgresql, but we also use Interbase. However, at present there
is a question mark over the future of Interbase (the top people have all
resigned and we do not yet know what inprise will do with the product,
there are rumours it will be dropped).

Many users of Interbase are currently looking at alternatives.  Of these
Postgresql is in many ways one of the best options.  It lacks only a few
things

critical (at least for some)
- support for Windows 9x
- transaction log with roll forward from backups

desireable
- stored procedures 
- relational integrity via foreign keys

Would it be possible to find ways to pay postgresql developers to add
these things? We would be very happy to pay several $1000 for these and
it might be possible to find others from the Interbase community.

I know that we have discussed Win 9x before and that there are technical
issues. I am hoping that with funds ways around these could be found.

Dave

Re: [GENERAL] Interbase replacement

Bruce Momjian <pgman@candle.pha.pa.us> — 1999-12-22T18:30:57Z

> Hi,
> 
> We use Postgresql, but we also use Interbase. However, at present there
> is a question mark over the future of Interbase (the top people have all
> resigned and we do not yet know what inprise will do with the product,
> there are rumours it will be dropped).
> 
> Many users of Interbase are currently looking at alternatives.  Of these
> Postgresql is in many ways one of the best options.  It lacks only a few
> things
> 
> critical (at least for some)
> - support for Windows 9x

This is a huge leap for us.  Only if cgywin can be ported to it.  That's
the only way we got to NT.

> - transaction log with roll forward from backups

That will be in 7.1, due in 6 months.

> 
> desireable
> - stored procedures 

Have it.

> - relational integrity via foreign keys

That will be in 7.0, due in a few months.

> 
> Would it be possible to find ways to pay postgresql developers to add
> these things? We would be very happy to pay several $1000 for these and
> it might be possible to find others from the Interbase community.

Money always helps, but we already have most of what you need coming.

> I know that we have discussed Win 9x before and that there are technical
> issues. I am hoping that with funds ways around these could be found.

Win 9x seems like a HUGE leap for us.  Where is cgywin on that?

-- 
  Bruce Momjian                        |  http://www.op.net/~candle
  maillist@candle.pha.pa.us            |  (610) 853-3000
  +  If your life is a hard drive,     |  830 Blythe Avenue
  +  Christ can be your backup.        |  Drexel Hill, Pennsylvania 19026

Re: [GENERAL] Interbase replacement

Howie <caffeine@toodarkpark.org> — 1999-12-22T18:38:18Z

On Wed, 22 Dec 1999, David Warnock wrote:

> [SNIP]
> critical (at least for some)
> - support for Windows 9x

as in a native port of pgsql to ms-windows or as in odbc drivers ( which
postgresql already has ) ?

> - transaction log with roll forward from backups
> 
> desireable
> - stored procedures 

there was a huge discussion on this earlier.  i think its coming rsn.

> - relational integrity via foreign keys

due in 7.x i think ( im not a pgsql developer ).  for now one can use
'refint' ( $PGSQL_SRC_ROOT/contrib/spi/refint.* ) to get some degree of
foreign key support.  check the list archive for extended discussions on
it.

> Would it be possible to find ways to pay postgresql developers to add
> these things? We would be very happy to pay several $1000 for these and
> it might be possible to find others from the Interbase community.

www.pgsql.com has the necessary info.

> [SNIP]

---
Howie <caffeine@toodarkpark.org>   URL: http://www.toodarkpark.org    
"I've learned that you cannot make someone love you.  
 All you can do is stalk them and hope they panic and give in."

Re: [GENERAL] Interbase replacement

Robert Berger <rwb@vtiscan.com> — 1999-12-22T18:52:24Z
```
Is SELECT COUNT(DISTINCT ...

going to be supported in an upcoming version? 
```

Re: [GENERAL] Interbase replacement

Bruce Momjian <pgman@candle.pha.pa.us> — 1999-12-22T19:36:37Z

> Is SELECT COUNT(DISTINCT ...
> 
> going to be supported in an upcoming version? 
> 
> 

Yes, 7.0.

-- 
  Bruce Momjian                        |  http://www.op.net/~candle
  maillist@candle.pha.pa.us            |  (610) 853-3000
  +  If your life is a hard drive,     |  830 Blythe Avenue
  +  Christ can be your backup.        |  Drexel Hill, Pennsylvania 19026

Re: [GENERAL] Interbase replacement

chewie@wookimus.net — 1999-12-22T19:45:46Z

On Wed, 22 Dec 1999, David Warnock wrote:

> Would it be possible to find ways to pay postgresql developers to add
> these things? We would be very happy to pay several $1000 for these and
> it might be possible to find others from the Interbase community.

He he. That's one way to get your needs upgraded in priority on the
development path.  ;-)  I'm sure the developers of PostgreSQL would be
most happy to hear your interest in furthering the features of PostgreSQL.
I'd probably look for some email addresses off the
http://www.postgresql.org/ web site.  That is if they haven't seen you
already on this email list, which I doubt. ;-)

I'd help out, but I'm about to go head-first into an Open Resource
Planning project I started on http://www.sourceforge.net/, OpenRP for
short.  Creating a suitable replacement for MRP/ERP software like SAP is
going to be a huge chore, but it needs to be done. ;-)

----------------------------------------------------------------
Chad Walstrom                         mailto:chewie@wookimus.net 
a.k.a ^chewie, gunnarr               http://wookimus.net/~chewie

   Gnupg = B4AB D627 9CBD 687E 7A31  1950 0CC7 0B18 206C 5AFD
----------------------------------------------------------------

Re: [GENERAL] Interbase replacement

David Warnock <david@sundayta.co.uk> — 1999-12-23T08:44:07Z

Howie wrote:
> 
> On Wed, 22 Dec 1999, David Warnock wrote:
> 
> > [SNIP]
> > critical (at least for some)
> > - support for Windows 9x
> 
> as in a native port of pgsql to ms-windows or as in odbc drivers ( which

It is the pgsql server part that we need for some very small sites
(single user or only a couple of users).

Dave

Re: [GENERAL] Interbase replacement

David Warnock <david@sundayta.co.uk> — 1999-12-23T08:56:39Z

Bruce,

> > critical (at least for some)
> > - support for Windows 9x
> 
> This is a huge leap for us.  Only if cgywin can be ported to it.  That's
> the only way we got to NT.

The cgywin page at cygnus says that windows 9x is supported but that
some api calls are not available there. 

I would seriously like to help move this forward if possible - how? I am
not a C coder, but have Win 9x available on 1 box.

> > - transaction log with roll forward from backups
> 
> That will be in 7.1, due in 6 months.

Wonderful.

> > - relational integrity via foreign keys
> 
> That will be in 7.0, due in a few months.

Excellent.

> > Would it be possible to find ways to pay postgresql developers to add
> > these things? We would be very happy to pay several $1000 for these and
> > it might be possible to find others from the Interbase community.
> 
> Money always helps, but we already have most of what you need coming.

I know Postgresql has nearly all we need. For our apps if we could get
the Win 9x it would be fine already.  Thats why I am encouraging the
interbase people to look here.

> > I know that we have discussed Win 9x before and that there are technical
> > issues. I am hoping that with funds ways around these could be found.
> 
> Win 9x seems like a HUGE leap for us.  Where is cgywin on that?

See above, who is the best person to drive this forward and check if the
required bits are all there?

Thanks for all your work.

Dave

Re: [GENERAL] Interbase replacement

David Warnock <david@sundayta.co.uk> — 1999-12-23T11:46:03Z

Bruce,

Somehow I thought that is what you would say ;-)

We will make a start on this in the new year. Meanwhile if anyone has
better skills (some would be a good start) please feel free to help out.

Dave

Bruce Momjian wrote:
> 
> > I know Postgresql has nearly all we need. For our apps if we could get
> > the Win 9x it would be fine already.  Thats why I am encouraging the
> > interbase people to look here.
> >
> > > > I know that we have discussed Win 9x before and that there are technical
> > > > issues. I am hoping that with funds ways around these could be found.
> > >
> > > Win 9x seems like a HUGE leap for us.  Where is cgywin on that?
> >
> > See above, who is the best person to drive this forward and check if the
> > required bits are all there?
> 
> Probably you.  Get 6.5.* and cgywin installed on Win95 and see what
> fails.  Then report back.  Let's find out what is missing.
> 
> --
>   Bruce Momjian                        |  http://www.op.net/~candle
>   maillist@candle.pha.pa.us            |  (610) 853-3000
>   +  If your life is a hard drive,     |  830 Blythe Avenue
>   +  Christ can be your backup.        |  Drexel Hill, Pennsylvania 19026
> 
> ************

Re: [GENERAL] Interbase replacement

Bruce Momjian <pgman@candle.pha.pa.us> — 1999-12-23T11:47:54Z

> I know Postgresql has nearly all we need. For our apps if we could get
> the Win 9x it would be fine already.  Thats why I am encouraging the
> interbase people to look here.
> 
> > > I know that we have discussed Win 9x before and that there are technical
> > > issues. I am hoping that with funds ways around these could be found.
> > 
> > Win 9x seems like a HUGE leap for us.  Where is cgywin on that?
> 
> See above, who is the best person to drive this forward and check if the
> required bits are all there?

Probably you.  Get 6.5.* and cgywin installed on Win95 and see what
fails.  Then report back.  Let's find out what is missing.

-- 
  Bruce Momjian                        |  http://www.op.net/~candle
  maillist@candle.pha.pa.us            |  (610) 853-3000
  +  If your life is a hard drive,     |  830 Blythe Avenue
  +  Christ can be your backup.        |  Drexel Hill, Pennsylvania 19026

Re: [GENERAL] Interbase replacement

Bruce Momjian <pgman@candle.pha.pa.us> — 1999-12-23T12:33:21Z

> Bruce,
> 
> Somehow I thought that is what you would say ;-)
> 
> We will make a start on this in the new year. Meanwhile if anyone has
> better skills (some would be a good start) please feel free to help out.

Sorry, I run only Unix here.

-- 
  Bruce Momjian                        |  http://www.op.net/~candle
  maillist@candle.pha.pa.us            |  (610) 853-3000
  +  If your life is a hard drive,     |  830 Blythe Avenue
  +  Christ can be your backup.        |  Drexel Hill, Pennsylvania 19026

Re: [GENERAL] Interbase replacement

Kevin Lo <kevlo@hello.com.tw> — 1999-12-24T01:26:11Z

Bruce Momjian wrote:

> > I know Postgresql has nearly all we need. For our apps if we could get
> > the Win 9x it would be fine already.  Thats why I am encouraging the
> > interbase people to look here.
> >
> > > > I know that we have discussed Win 9x before and that there are technical
> > > > issues. I am hoping that with funds ways around these could be found.
> > >
> > > Win 9x seems like a HUGE leap for us.  Where is cgywin on that?
> >
> > See above, who is the best person to drive this forward and check if the
> > required bits are all there?
>
> Probably you.  Get 6.5.* and cgywin installed on Win95 and see what
> fails.  Then report back.  Let's find out what is missing.

I had tried to get 6.5.* and cygwin installed on Win95, no fails. But the problem

is it can not generate postgres.exe and pq.dll. I don't know how to solve this
problem, you know, I'm a BSDer :)

> --
>   Bruce Momjian                        |  http://www.op.net/~candle
>   maillist@candle.pha.pa.us            |  (610) 853-3000
>   +  If your life is a hard drive,     |  830 Blythe Avenue
>   +  Christ can be your backup.        |  Drexel Hill, Pennsylvania 19026
>
> ************

- Kevin