[development] So why we do support postgresql?

[Bill Moran]

"Khalid Baheyeldin" <kb at 2bits.com> wrote:
>
> I have to applaud those who go out of their way to test on PostgreSQL.
> This is noble of you.
> 
> I may start doing it at some point even ... (I did some benchmarks with
> a guy from the list helping, sorry forgot his name).

I believe that was me.  I'm sorry I haven't had more time to help out,
but the personal issues I thought would be resolved by now are still
a work in progress.

> But think of it: how scalable and sustainable is this? What about other
> databases? Will you do that for MS SQL (while running Mac/Linux?)
> Oracle?

The problem with this community is that it's oddly divided.  Is Drupal
going to be database agnostic or not?  If the opinion of the community
is that supporting multiple databases is worthwhile, then folks need to
bite the bullet, accept that doing so is a _lot_ of work, and quit
whining.

The fellow who starts these threads every month or so needs to quit his
damn whining and help out.  His bitching is a constant distraction.  And
his excuse that he doesn't care about PostgreSQL is bull.  If Karoly
doesn't care about a particular Drupal module, should everyone else quit
caring as well?  If he doesn't want to support a less popular browser,
like Firefox, should Drupal quit caring?

Being database agnostic is not an easy goal.  The weak of resolve need
not apply as they'll fail anyway.  But it seems to me that most of the
Drupal developers are not going to be easily dissuaded.

And why should they be?  If Karoly convinced them to give up Postgres
support, next he'd convince them to give up IE support, then he'd scare
them away from some other challenge or another.  Great projects don't get
great by whining that "it's too hard" and backing down.

As many have pointed out, it's not really about PostgreSQL ... it's about
supporting multiple databases.  If Drupal drops PostgreSQL support, the
overall goal of supporting multiple databases will suffer.  The approaches
that folks are taking to abstract the database are the correct approaches,
but they're not as easy as just giving up, and they'll take time.

-- 
Bill Moran
http://www.potentialtech.com