*** 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@informix.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@informix.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,