[development] So why we do support postgresql?

[Peter Wolanin]

As we all know, patches speak louder than words in  terms of affecting
change in the Drupal.  To take a step in this direction, here's an
issue:

http://drupal.org/node/212918

The attached patch makes MySQL use its ANSI mode.   I marked it as a
feature request for 6.x, I'll let someone else decide if this should
really be a 6.x bug, or a 7.x feature.  This should move core (but
especially contrib module) developers in the right direction at least
by breaking obviously non-ANSI-compliant SQL.  I don't see any obvious
problems with core when applying this patch with PHP 4.4, MySQL 5.0,
but my testing is minimal so far.

-Peter

> ---------- Forwarded message ----------
> From: Jean-Michel Pouré <jm at poure.com>
> To: development at drupal.org
> Date: Mon, 21 Jan 2008 13:42:09 +0100
> Subject: Re: [development] So why we do support postgresql?
> Dear friends,
>
> > That is all well and good from "it runs" ( i.e. unit testing,
> > functionality is OK),
> > but when you try to optimize for large datasets or complex queries,
> > you often
> > have to do things that are database engine specific.
> >
> > This is a classic clash been theory and reality.
>
> Sorry, not my opinion.
> MySQL employs non-standard SQL queries.
>
> If the code was written primarily for PostgreSQL using tables,
> standard sql queries and views, it would run smoothly on MySQL and most
> databases like Oracle and DB2.
>
> This is because PostgreSQL is the standard SQL99 implementation.
> Very few things differ in PostgreSQL.
>
> The converse is not true.
>
> > The bottleneck is how many developers know PostgreSQL AND care
> > about Drupal using PostgreSQL, and willing to put in the effort to
> > keep
> > in tandem with MySQL so PostgreSQL does not lag behind.
>
> I recommand using pgAdmin III graphical client, which is the standard
> graphical interface for PostgreSQL.
>
> Also, log and analyse all SQL queries and plans.
>
> Like in my HOWTO : PostgreSQL query optimisation =>
> http://area51.phpbb.com/phpBB/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=29292
>
> It is pretty hard against MySQL. Sorry, this is the opinion of most
> people designing databases. I may change my opinion when a better
> transactional support is added with better SQL99 suppport.
>
> Besides, I find Drupal sometimes slow on my testing installation. I will
> try to debug SQL queries written for MySQL and will report them back.
>
> Kind regards,
> Jean-Michel
>
>
>