RPMs for 7.3.4, and a change.

Good evening.

RPMs for PostgreSQL 7.3.4, built on three architectures, are in the midst of
uploading to ftp.postgresql.org, in /pub/binary/v7.3.4/RPMS. As usual,
inside that directory is the directory SRPMS, which contains the source RPM,
as well as the three binary RPM directories I am uploading. One minor thing;
a source RPM suitable for rebuilding on Red Hat 7.3 is available in the
aurora-1.0 subdirectory. Aurora 1.0 is basically Red Hat 7.3 for SPARC;
there are also SPARC binaries there.

Other than the version change, this RPMset includes the correct JDBC jars.
There are a couple of fixes that have been e-mailed to me that are not in
this update; I will address those as soon as I can.

In other news, I have changed jobs. Previously, I worked full-time as a
broadcast engineer/IT person for WGCR Radio. I still work part-time for
them, amongst other radio stations, but my full-time position is now as
Director of Information Technology for Pisgah Astronomical Research Institute
(PARI), a radio/optical astronomical observatory located in Western North
Carolina. You can find out more about PARI at our website, www.pari.edu.

PARI is already using PostgreSQL for several applications, and soon will be
looking at PostgreSQL for a large data warehousing application. And, in this
case, I do mean large. I will be indexing and storing over three million
astronomical photographic plates (if plans come together!), where each plate
will scan in at roughly 650-750MB in size (uncompressed) (and this is 8-level
grayscale scanning). Mass storage will be critical of this priceless data
store, and PostgreSQL may very well fit the bill. I'm still in the planning
phases, and we are still trying to secure funding for this project. But I am
relatively confident that PostgreSQL will rise to the occassion. Some of the
plates in question are over 100 years old.

New challenges, new opportunities. But still the same PostgreSQL.
--
Lamar Owen
Director of Information Technology
Pisgah Astronomical Research Institute