Re: Two Flyers

Lamar Owen wrote:
> One of the most embarassing blurbs I remember, though, was at the 6.5 release
> (which is in the period of time not archived, incidentally) that said the 6.5
> release marked the PostgreSQL team's 'final mastery' of the codebase. I did
> find the blurb in a History document separately archived. See the page
> http://web.archive.org/web/20021001222155/www.ca.postgresql.org/docs/devhistory.html
> where it says "Every release is now a major improvement over the last. Our
> upcoming 6.5 release marks the development team's final mastery of the source
> code we inherited from Berkeley. Finally, every code module is understood by
> at least one development team member. We are now easily adding major
> features, thanks to the increasing size and experience of our world-wide
> development team. Like most open-source projects, we don't know how many
> people are using our software, but our increased functionality, visibility
> and mailing list traffic clearly point to continued growth for PostgreSQL. "
> Since this 'history' document says 'upcoming 6.5 release' that would date it
> in the spring of 1999. So it should now read 'PreHistory' of
> PostgreSQL... :-) Now, the blurb, in context, is a true statement, because
> the 6.5 release really was the breakthrough release for PostgreSQL. But it
> sure did sound a little arrogant to say 'final mastery'.....

That phrase is even in our release notes:

Release 6.5

Release date: 1999-06-09

This release marks a major step in the development team's mastery of
the source code we inherited from Berkeley. You
will see we are now easily adding major features, thanks to the
increasing size and experience of our world-wide
development team.

and, yes, it was me who wrote that. Many felt it was embarrasing to
admit we didn't have full understanding of all the PostgreSQL modules
before 6.5, but it was the truth, so if you thought it was arrogant, I
must have struck the right balance. I have seen that phrase quoted by
others outside the project so it must have gotten some people's
attention, both good and bad. The phrase was uses to highlight how much
progress we had made since 1.02 in 1996.

> And I think Jan's project's name, which literally means 'elephants', is very
> nice, particularly given the vast contributions of one of my favorite
> Russians, Vadim. He did a bunch of heavy lifting for this project.
> Subselects, MVCC, and WAL. Three very large features, three complicated
> codebases. One greatly appreciated Russian. And Jan, I got it when you
> first announced it, and thought it was a hoot (that is, nicely, pun-ily,
> funny).

The Sloney elephant looks like he has an attitude, though. :-)

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