kemnitz@postgres.uucp (Greg Kemnitz) (09/16/90)
Archive-name: postgres/12-Sep-90
Original-posting-by: kemnitz@postgres.uucp (Greg Kemnitz)
Original-subject: Postgres (was Re: Public Domain Databases)
Archive-site: postgres.berkeley.edu [128.32.149.1]
Archive-directory: /pub
Reposted-by: emv@math.lsa.umich.edu (Edward Vielmetti)
What Is Postgres?
In this brief discussion, I will try to clarify what Postgres is and what
it is not. First, a quick summary:
Postgres is a database research project under Prof. Michael Stonebraker
at U. C. Berkeley. To facilitate research efforts, a software test-bed was
created which is the "Postgres" software. The major purpose of this
software is to provide a platform and a basis for the testing of
implementations of new ideas in database research. Several graduate
students, as well as undergraduate programmers and staff, have been working on
the implementation of the Postgres software. After this paragraph, all
references to "Postgres" refer to the software itself.
What Postgres Is:
o It is relational. One of the major goals of Postgres is to show that
an essentially relational DBMS can be extended to handle complex objects,
rules, and be highly extensible. Postgres is both relational and is an
OODB.
o Postgres is highly extensible, allowing user-defined operators, user-defined
types, and user-defined functions.
o Numerous other features which are beyond the scope of this discussion.
For more detailed info, have a look at the tech reports which are available
via anonymous FTP (see below).
What Postgres is Not:
o It is not an extension of University Ingres. No effort has been made
to be compatible with University Ingres, and very little code is common.
Questions about University Ingres should be posted to comp.databases.
o It is not an attempt to create an industrial-strength public domain
competitor to commercial DBMS offerings. We are not GNU. The Postgres
group will support users as time permits, but user support is a secondary
goal.
o It is not a distributed database and there is no plan by our group at
this time to make it distributed.
o It does not use SQL.
Getting Postgres:
Postgres 2.0 (the current release) runs on SunOS 4.0.3 on Sparcstations (NOT
SunOS 4.1), all SunOS on Sun 3's, on DECstation 3100's, and on Sequent Symmetry
machines. It is available for anonymous FTP from postgres.berkeley.edu
in the file
pub/postgres-v2r0.tar.Z
The installation instructions are in the file
pub/postgres-setup.me
Tech reports (which are also included in the tar file) are in the file
pub/postgres-papers.tar.Z
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
Greg Kemnitz | "I ran out of the room - I
Postgres Chief Programmer | didn't want to be killed by a pile
kemnitz@postgres.berkeley.edu | of ULTRIX manuals" :-)
|
| --A friend at DEC Palo Alto in the Quake