pgNixInstaller: Making PostgreSQL relocatable

Hi,

We have been having a short talk with Devrim this evening about the
pgnixInstaller[1] project he started[2] a while ago.

I have briefly read over the thread following the project announce,
particularly comments on issues about package systems of distributions
and integration with them.

I believe the project will add some value to the PostgreSQL community,
so I'd like to join and add my grain of salt.

Main goal of the project appears to be making installation and
configuration of PostgreSQL server a no-brainer, not easier. Any moron
you can get to the /mouse/[3] should be able to get PostgreSQL up and
running in some short time period. And that moron should be able to do
it in some fashion that's not so good, but the installation should work.

Fortunately we're not alone in the universe, several other projects
suffered from the very same problem. Including the much larger
OpenOffice.org project. I think some of you have installed it on your
favorite Unix-alike OS using it's click-click-and-go installer, when
distributions did not have packages of it -- ancient times.

We'll be doing that for PostgreSQL, I think it's a fantastic way for me
to get involved.

In order to achieve this *properly*, I intend to make PostgreSQL
relocatable, that is, PostgreSQL should be able to run if you `copy`
it's binaries somewhere else -- no matter where you `./configure
--prefix`ed it. I took a very quick look at some parts of the codebase
and it seems doable to me.

Apparently we'll be avoiding package systems integration and
development-packages-requirement issues mentioned in the thread.

Next step would be a simple, possibly shell-script and xdialog/zenity[4]
based prototype installer. I personally can't afford the Python thing,
Solaris and possibly others don't have it yet and embedding Python in a
shell script is not the brightest idea obviously.

Now the question, would you accept patches for this, or are we going to
maintain some set of patches?

May you have suggestions about any other direction, I'd be more than
happy to know.

Cheers,

[1] http://pgfoundry.org/projects/pgnixinstaller/
[2] http://archives.postgresql.org/pgsql-hackers/2006-01/msg00943.php
[3] http://www.joelonsoftware.com/articles/fog0000000024.html
--
Enver