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Postgres Engine for MySQL Released

Posted by CmdrTaco on Sun Apr 01, 2007 11:23 AM
Databases Programming Software IT
SlashRating©
11.9
slashdottit! tm
krow writes "One of the unique qualities of the MySQL server is its ability to have multiple storage engine operate concurrently. Companies like Oracle and Solid have contributed their own storage engines to the open source project. With 5.1 MySQL has added the ability to now do this in a loadable fashion, allowing dynamic engines in the same manner as Apache with its modules. Now PostgreSQL can add its self to the list of databases who have contributed a storage engine to MySQL. I'm releasing today a plugin so that you can now plugin the Postgres database engine into MySQL and have it work natively along side other engines."
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  • BUT... (Score:5, Funny)

    by dark_15 (962590) on Sunday April 01 2007, @11:25AM (#18567169)
    Will it blend?

  • should speed up Postgresql (Score:5, Funny)

    by Anonymous Coward on Sunday April 01 2007, @11:28AM (#18567185)
    One of the problems with Postgresql versus MySQL is that it is typically much, much slower and less capable. THis should address those problems.

    • Re: (Score:3, Interesting)

      by metamatic (202216)
      Actually, it's a useful idea. MySQL is only faster than PostgreSQL for "toy" databases [tweakers.net] (low concurrency, few transactions needed per second), or if you throw away ACID capabilities.

      However, a lot of open source projects use non-portable MySQL "SQL", and hence don't work if you try to use PostgreSQL as your back end. A hack like this that actually worked would let you run crappy open source code on a more scalable database back end.

      • Re: (Score:3, Insightful)

        by jadavis (473492)
        A hack like this that actually worked would let you run crappy open source code on a more scalable database back end.

        A lot of PostgreSQL's performance comes from it's cost-based optimizer that chooses the correct plan based on statistically sampling your real data periodically. In other words, as your data changes, your plans change accordingly without administrator intervention. MySQL's optimizer is much more primitive.

        Also, PostgreSQL has much more sophisticated options when planning, like bitmap index sc
    • PostgreSQL is LESS capable than MySQL? (Slower at some things, maybe, but LESS CAPABLE?)

      Leave the crack pipe at home next time.

    • One of the problems with Postgresql versus MySQL is that it is typically much, much slower and less capable. THis should address those problems.

      Yes yes, this is true, PostgreSQL *IS* so much faster than MySQL, that's well understood... But that's just a small drop in the ocean compared to the much LARGER problem about comparing the two which is that PostgreSQL is a relational database while MySQL is a fancy way to access flat files.
  • If you're going to get Slashdotted, posting a link to a 13MB file is a bit risky, no?

    Anyone manage to dl it? I gave up a few minutes ago.
    • Forget putting your own rear end on the line with deploying botnets to DDoS public sites, simply post a link to a large downloadable on a slashdot article and you get a very similar, yet much more legal effect :D
    • I downloaded about ~ 300 kb (very slow) and did a zcat on the tar. So far it looks like automake stuff, so it looks like source code.

      13 MB is quite a lot if you compare it to 22 MB for the source of MySQL itself. I also wondered that he took "create table april "... as example. That points toward a prank...

    • Turns out I had not done a "make clean" in the PG directory, so it was a lot larger then what it needed to be. I've updated the tgz with a smaller file.

  • Eh (Score:3, Funny)

    by Spazntwich (208070) on Sunday April 01 2007, @11:43AM (#18567279)
    5.1 is old. Wake me up when they've got a true 7.1 setup available.

  • Can't hold my breath... (Score:3, Insightful)

    by Epaminondas Pantulis (926394) on Sunday April 01 2007, @11:46AM (#18567297) Homepage
    till they release a DBase III engine...
  • This would have been a better joke if it was Microsoft adding a SQL Server engine.

  • MySQL teh suck? (Score:3, Insightful)

    by Urusai (865560) on Sunday April 01 2007, @11:56AM (#18567343)
    I thought with MySQL going all corporate and proprietary-like, the bandwagon was jumping ship. MySQL always sucked anyway, unless you were operating a flat file type database. In conclusion, quit swinging on MySQL's nuts. Thank you.

    • Re: (Score:3, Insightful)

      by isorox (205688)
      The only ways mysql gets into corporate machine are
      1) Grass roots simply installing it
      2) Snr Mgmt being dazzled by golf and wine weekends

      I can get my techliterate boss to point to a costly Mysql enterprise support package in those high up meetings where nothing really gets decided, but decisions float down from, and we are fine to dump Oracle for the latest 2000 queries/day intranet site.

      In reality the support will be mostly Usenet, but it keeps the suits happy knowing that it must be good because it has a
  • This sounds like the ideal database backend for Parrot [slashdot.org].

    That's the original combined Perl/Python scripting language, BTW, not the Perl 6 virtual machine that ripped off the name.

  • laugh if you like... (Score:5, Interesting)

    by doom (14564) <doom@kzsu.stanford.edu> on Sunday April 01 2007, @12:21PM (#18567513) Homepage Journal
    Laugh if you like, but you can actually do this trick the other way around, if you like:

    There's a project called "dbilink" that uses the fact that you can run perl inside of postgresql to use DBI to talk to other databases. You can use tables from a mysql database inside of a postgres database...

    • Re: (Score:3, Informative)

      by dfetter (2035)
      Pardon the self-promotion, but you can find DBI-Link at http://pgfoundry.org/projects/dbi-link/ [pgfoundry.org] and on EPEL for RHEL/CentOS. Oh, and it's not restricted to MySQL. You can use any DBD with a certain minimal feature set, and I'm trying to reduce that minimum.
        • Badly worded, of course, but what he meant was that the number of features the TARGET database needed to be usable with DBI-Link was being reduced.

          In other words, he's trying to get DBI-Link to work with MORE databases in the future.

          Oh, wait, were you being funny?

          Never mind.

  • Thank goodness this was just a joke! For a second I thought we wouldn't be able to have flame wars over which one was better!

    The only thing worse would be a linux plugin for windows.

  • Help Needed: Error 2013 (Score:5, Funny)

    by ballmerfud (1031602) * on Sunday April 01 2007, @12:41PM (#18567619) Journal

    I compiled and installed the plugin and every time I try it, get the following:

    mysql> INSTALL PLUGIN postgres SONAME 'libpostgres_engine.so';
    ... where am I? Oh God no. No. NO!
    kill(getpid(), 9)
    kill(getpid(), 9)
    kill(getpid(), 9)
    kill(getpid(), 9)
    kill(getpid(), 9)
    kill(getpid(), 9)
    kill(getpid(), 9)
    kill(getpid(), 9)
    kill(getpid(), 9)
    kill(getpid(), 9)
    kill(getpid(), 9)

    ERROR 2013: Lost connection to MySQL server during query
  • Is it notable that this story doesn't have a "from the ... dept." line? How common is that?
  • are we going to have to start using VACUUM on MySQL now?
    • Probably, but luckily Dyson is working on a Roomba killer. At least this way will have some competition in the automated database garbage collection tools.
  • story? That was much funnier than this one.

    The only funnier one would be "Richard Stallman hired as Microsoft open source evangelist."

    (Now I wait for the FSF fanatics to tell me the difference between "open source" and "free" software - because they can't take a joke either...)

    • Re: (Score:3, Informative)

      by beckerist (985855)
      There are 4 links to corporations home pages. There's 1 link to someone's blog that contains a broken link to a non-existent plug-in. Not only that, I think this would make a much bigger stink if it were real. So, my thoughts: APRIL FOOLS!

    • Re: (Score:2, Funny)

      by kirun (658684)
      A clue for you:

      mysql> select * from april;
      Empty set (0.00 sec)
      • Also the fact that Brian has a blackhole engine running next to the pgsql.

        • Re: (Score:1, Informative)

          by Anonymous Coward
          The blackhole engine is real..

    • Re: (Score:2, Informative)

      by Anonymous Coward
      They're just rival DBMSes, that's all. It's not actually particularly funny.

    • Re: (Score:1, Informative)

      by Anonymous Coward
      The joke (which, like most jokes sounds lame when you explain it) is that MySQL has so many storage backends, why not use another database as a storage backend? Compatibility is not the issue, but rather the odd notion of designing a database system just to store data in some other database system. It would be similar to writing an entire file system that stored all the data in a specially formatted MS Word document.
      • If that's an odd notion, then MySQL is odd already. Solid and Berkley existed as databases long before they become options for MySQL table backends. There would be some value to having a MySQL interface to the arguably more capable (for certain tasks) Postgres storage engine.
      • MySQL can already use another database as a storage backend through federation. The "benefit" a PostgreSQL storage engine would be that you could pick and choose whether PostgreSQL or InnoDB, MyISAM and all other other backends fits the requirements of your app the best without changing your database environment.

        It may have been an April Fools joke this time, but I wouldn't be the slightest bit surprised if someone actually went ahead and implemented this. There are far weirder MySQL backends, such as one

        • The "benefit" a PostgreSQL storage engine would be that you could pick and choose whether PostgreSQL or InnoDB, MyISAM and all other other backends fits the requirements of your app the best without changing your database environment.

          (1) MySQL's "storage engines" cause different behavior at the semantic level. If you change storage engines, there's a good chance your queries will behave differently. What used to work may now fail.

          (2) PostgreSQL has sophisticated performance options which *are* transparent a

    • This evolution would bring together the legendary speed of postgresql with the phenomenal consistency and standards compliance of MySQL.

      Which is to say, it's completely backward -- a fusion of the worst of each.

    • can someone give a quick summary as to why this is hilarious and people are currently LOL

      Have you ever laughed at a hopped-up Dodge Neon with a whale tail and three rows of headlights? Well, imagine that the owner had found managed to buy a Ferrari, rip its engine out, and install it in the Dodge. It would be an interesting hack, but why not just drive the Ferrari in the first place?

    • It's kinda like someone making an add-on to firefox to allow it to use IE as a render engine in a given tab.

      Oh, wait...

    • Effort? You seriously think the /. editors are putting any effort into this? Do you think they EVER put effort into /.?
    • Why would you say that Americans despise immigrants? I mean, of all nations America is the one that has traditionally been a haven for immigrants from all cultures. We don't like the illegal ones, to be sure, but that has little to do with their English (given that the bulk of them can't speak it at all anyway and show little interest in learning.) It has more to do with the fact that their presence here is disruptive and causing major socioeconomic problems. In any event, hastily-written Slashdot posts are
      • "of all nations America is the one that has traditionally been a haven for immigrants from all cultures"

        The operative word here is "traditionally".

        Once the immigrants got here, they immediately began discriminating against NEWER immigrants. Look at the histories of the Irish, the Italians, the Poles, the Russians, the Chinese, the Vietnamese, the Middle Easterners, the you-name-it.

        That hasn't stopped.

        It's human nature - if you're not one of "us" - for no matter how small a set of "us" (down to order 1 for m

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