Re: [DOCS] Suggestions for history.sgml file in tutorial

Patch applied.

> Some suggestions to clarify the current status of PostgreSQL. Patch
> attached.
>
> Fred Horch

[text/html is unsupported, treating like TEXT/PLAIN]

> *** doc/src/sgml/history.sgml Sun Jun 20 21:53:53 1999
> --- doc/src/sgml/history.sgml.new Sun Jun 20 21:58:24 1999
> ***************
> *** 1,6 ****
> --- 1,18 ----
> <Sect1>
> <Title>A Short History of <ProductName>Postgres</ProductName></Title>
>
> + <Para>
> + The Object-Relational Database Management System now known as
> + <ProductName>PostgreSQL</ProductName> was originally called
> + <ProductName>Postgres</ProductName>, and briefly called
> + <ProductName>Postgres95</ProductName>. With over a decade of
> + development behind it, <ProductName>PostgreSQL</ProductName>
> + is the most advanced open-source database available anywhere,
> + offering multi-version concurrency control and supporting almost
> + all SQL constructs, including subselects, transactions, and
> + user-defined types and functions.
> + </Para>
> +
> <Sect2>
> <Title>The Berkeley <ProductName>Postgres</ProductName> Project</Title>
>
> ***************
> *** 37,44 ****
> Version 3 appeared in 1991 and added support for multiple
> storage managers, an improved query executor, and a
> rewritten rewrite rule system. For the most part,
> ! releases since then have focused on portability and
> ! reliability.
> </Para>
>
> <Para>
> --- 49,56 ----
> Version 3 appeared in 1991 and added support for multiple
> storage managers, an improved query executor, and a
> rewritten rewrite rule system. For the most part,
> ! releases until <ProductName>Postgres95</ProductName> (see below)
> ! focused on portability and reliability.
> </Para>
>
> <Para>
> ***************
> *** 70,76 ****
> ended with Version 4.2.
> </Para>
> </Sect2>
> !
> <Sect2>
> <Title><ProductName>Postgres95</ProductName></Title>
>
> --- 82,88 ----
> ended with Version 4.2.
> </Para>
> </Sect2>
> !
> <Sect2>
> <Title><ProductName>Postgres95</ProductName></Title>
>
> ***************
> *** 79,155 ****
> <ULink url="mailto:ayu(at)informix(dot)com">Andrew Yu</ULink>
> and
> <ULink url="http://http.cs.berkeley.edu/~jolly/">Jolly Chen</ULink>
> ! added a SQL language interpreter to <ProductName>Postgres</ProductName>,
> ! and the code was subsequently released to
> ! the Web to find its own way in the world.
> ! <ProductName>Postgres95</ProductName> was a public-domain, open source descendant
> ! of this original Berkeley code.
> </Para>
>
> <Para>
> ! <ProductName>Postgres95</ProductName> is a derivative of the last official release
> ! of <ProductName>Postgres</ProductName> (version 4.2). The code is now completely
> ! ANSI C and the code size has been trimmed by 25%. There
> ! are a lot of internal changes that improve performance
> ! and code maintainability.
> ! <ProductName>Postgres95</ProductName> v1.0.x runs about 30-50%
> ! faster on the Wisconsin Benchmark compared to v4.2.
> ! Apart from bug fixes, these are the major enhancements:
>
> <ItemizedList>
> <ListItem>
> <Para>
> ! The query language <ProductName>Postquel</ProductName> has been replaced with
> ! <Acronym>SQL</Acronym> (implemented in the server). We do not yet support
> ! subqueries (which can be imitated with user defined
> ! <Acronym>SQL</Acronym> functions). Aggregates have been
> ! re-implemented. We also added support for ``GROUP BY''.
> ! The <FileName>libpq</FileName> interface is still available for <Acronym>C</Acronym>
> programs.
> </Para>
> </ListItem>
> <ListItem>
> <Para>
> ! In addition to the monitor program, we provide a new
> ! program (<Application>psql</Application>) which supports <Acronym>GNU</Acronym> <FileName>readline</FileName>.
> </Para>
> </ListItem>
> <ListItem>
> <Para>
> ! We added a new front-end library, <FileName>libpgtcl</FileName>, that
> ! supports <Acronym>Tcl</Acronym>-based clients. A sample shell,
> ! pgtclsh, provides new Tcl commands to interface <Application>tcl</Application>
> programs with the <ProductName>Postgres95</ProductName> backend.
> </Para>
> </ListItem>
> <ListItem>
> <Para>
> ! The large object interface has been overhauled. We
> ! kept Inversion large objects as the only mechanism
> ! for storing large objects. (This is not to be
> ! confused with the Inversion file system which has been
> ! removed.)
> </Para>
> </ListItem>
> <ListItem>
> <Para>
> ! The instance-level rule system has been removed.
> ! Rules are still available as rewrite rules.
> </Para>
> </ListItem>
> <ListItem>
> <Para>
> A short tutorial introducing regular <Acronym>SQL</Acronym> features as
> ! well as those of ours is distributed with the source
> ! code.
> </Para>
> </ListItem>
> <ListItem>
> <Para>
> ! <Acronym>GNU</Acronym> make (instead of <Acronym>BSD</Acronym> make) is used for the
> ! build. Also, <ProductName>Postgres95</ProductName> can be compiled with an
> ! unpatched <ProductName>gcc</ProductName> (data alignment of doubles has been
> ! fixed).
> </Para>
> </ListItem>
> </ItemizedList>
> --- 91,165 ----
> <ULink url="mailto:ayu(at)informix(dot)com">Andrew Yu</ULink>
> and
> <ULink url="http://http.cs.berkeley.edu/~jolly/">Jolly Chen</ULink>
> ! added a SQL language interpreter to <ProductName>Postgres</ProductName>.
> ! <ProductName>Postgres95</ProductName> was subsequently released to
> ! the Web to find its own way in the world as a public-domain,
> ! open source descendant of the original <ProductName>Postgres</ProductName>
> ! Berkeley code.
> </Para>
>
> <Para>
> ! <ProductName>Postgres95</ProductName> code was completely
> ! ANSI C and trimmed in size by 25%. Many
> ! internal changes improved performance and maintainability.
> ! <ProductName>Postgres95</ProductName> v1.0.x ran about 30-50%
> ! faster on the Wisconsin Benchmark compared to
> ! <ProductName>Postgres</ProductName> v4.2.
> ! Apart from bug fixes, these were the major enhancements:
>
> <ItemizedList>
> <ListItem>
> <Para>
> ! The query language <ProductName>Postquel</ProductName> was replaced with
> ! <Acronym>SQL</Acronym> (implemented in the server). Subqueries were not supported until <ProductName>PostgreSQL</ProductName> (see below), but they
> ! could be imitated in <ProductName>Postgres95</ProductName> with user-defined
> ! <Acronym>SQL</Acronym> functions. Aggregates were
> ! re-implemented. Support for ``GROUP BY'' was also added.
> ! The <FileName>libpq</FileName> interface remained available for <Acronym>C</Acronym>
> programs.
> </Para>
> </ListItem>
> <ListItem>
> <Para>
> ! In addition to the monitor program, a new program
> ! (<Application>psql</Application>) was provided for interactive SQL queries
> ! using <Acronym>GNU</Acronym> <FileName>readline</FileName>.
> </Para>
> </ListItem>
> <ListItem>
> <Para>
> ! A new front-end library, <FileName>libpgtcl</FileName>,
> ! supported <Acronym>Tcl</Acronym>-based clients. A sample shell,
> ! pgtclsh, provided new Tcl commands to interface <Application>tcl</Application>
> programs with the <ProductName>Postgres95</ProductName> backend.
> </Para>
> </ListItem>
> <ListItem>
> <Para>
> ! The large object interface was overhauled. The Inversion large objects were
> ! the only mechanism for storing large objects.
> ! (The Inversion file system was removed.)
> </Para>
> </ListItem>
> <ListItem>
> <Para>
> ! The instance-level rule system was removed.
> ! Rules were still available as rewrite rules.
> </Para>
> </ListItem>
> <ListItem>
> <Para>
> A short tutorial introducing regular <Acronym>SQL</Acronym> features as
> ! well as those of <ProductName>Postgres95</ProductName> was
> ! distributed with the source code.
> </Para>
> </ListItem>
> <ListItem>
> <Para>
> ! <Acronym>GNU</Acronym> make (instead of <Acronym>BSD</Acronym> make) was used
> ! for the build. Also, <ProductName>Postgres95</ProductName> could be
> ! compiled with an unpatched <ProductName>gcc</ProductName>
> ! (data alignment of doubles was fixed).
> </Para>
> </ListItem>
> </ItemizedList>
> ***************
> *** 160,193 ****
> <Title><ProductName>PostgreSQL</ProductName></Title>
>
> <Para>
> ! By 1996, it became clear that the name <Quote>Postgres95</Quote> would not stand
> ! the test of time. A new name, <ProductName>PostgreSQL</ProductName>,
> ! was chosen to reflect the
> ! relationship between original <ProductName>Postgres</ProductName>
> ! and the more recent
> ! versions with <Acronym>SQL</Acronym> capability.
> ! At the same time, the version numbering
> ! was reset to start at 6.0,
> ! putting the numbers back into the sequence originally begun by
> ! the <ProductName>Postgres</ProductName> Project.
> </Para>
>
> <Para>
> ! The emphasis on development for the v1.0.x releases of
> ! <ProductName>Postgres95</ProductName>
> ! was on stabilizing the backend code.
> ! With the v6.x series of <ProductName>PostgreSQL</ProductName>,
> ! the emphasis has shifted from
> ! identifying and understanding existing problems in the backend
> ! to augmenting features and capabilities, although
> work continues in all areas.
> </Para>
>
> <Para>
> ! Major enhancements include:
> </Para>
>
> <ItemizedList>
> <ListItem>
> <Para>
> Important backend features, including subselects, defaults,
> --- 170,206 ----
> <Title><ProductName>PostgreSQL</ProductName></Title>
>
> <Para>
> ! By 1996, it became clear that the name <Quote>Postgres95</Quote> would
> ! not stand the test of time. We chose a new name,
> ! <ProductName>PostgreSQL</ProductName>, to reflect the relationship
> ! between the original <ProductName>Postgres</ProductName> and the more
> ! recent versions with <Acronym>SQL</Acronym> capability. At the same
> ! time, we set the version numbering to start at 6.0, putting the
> ! numbers back into the sequence originally begun by the
> ! <ProductName>Postgres</ProductName> Project.
> </Para>
>
> <Para>
> ! The emphasis during development of <ProductName>Postgres95</ProductName>
> ! was on identifying and understanding existing problems in the backend code.
> ! With <ProductName>PostgreSQL</ProductName>,
> ! the emphasis has shifted to augmenting features and capabilities, although
> work continues in all areas.
> </Para>
>
> <Para>
> ! Major enhancements in <ProductName>PostgreSQL</ProductName> include:
> </Para>
>
> <ItemizedList>
> + <ListItem>
> + <Para>
> + Table-level locking has been replaced with multi-version concurrency control,
> + which allows readers to continue reading consistent data during writer activity
> + and enables hot backups from pg_dump while the database stays available for
> + queries.
> + </Para>
> + </ListItem>
> <ListItem>
> <Para>
> Important backend features, including subselects, defaults,

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