Re: Is my MySQL Gaining ?

Quoting "B. van Ouwerkerk" <bvo(at)atz(dot)nl>:

> SNIP
>
> > > Many of these subjects already *are* covered in the Tutorial. Just
> > > looking in the 7.4 table of contents, I see
> > >
> > > 3. Advanced Features
> > > 3.1. Introduction
> > > 3.2. Views
> > > 3.3. Foreign Keys
> > > 3.4. Transactions
> > > 3.5. Inheritance
> > > 3.6. Conclusion
> > >
> > > The discussions are skimpy and could use fleshed out a little, no doubt.
> > > (Anyone who wants to contribute material is surely welcome to.)
>
> SNIP
>
> >This concerns me. This is the second time recently someone has said
> something
> >is NOT documented and it it turn out it is.
> >
> >So my question is (no offense to anyone) are the web sites not "clear"
> >enough to
> >find information quickly or are people just being lax/lazy when they are
> >searching.
>
> No offence.. but..
>
> Not clear enough? Not sure. What I do think is that some pages do not go
> into greater detail where they could and imo should.
>
> I have presented this before as an example. If you install PG you're
> supposed to create a user postgres but nobody writes about what shell that
> user needs and even if that user is supposed to have a shell at all..
> homedir etc?? dunno..

Hmmmm. Ok, I had several gut reactions...

1) The shell doesn't matter unless you're interfacing to the DB with
shell scripts. In that case pick your poison
2) I wonder how the linux skills set of those installing PG are
3) there are several ways to add users in linux
3) Wait- forget linux what about FreeBSD the other OS'

Conclusion, we can't possibly do detailed descriptions for every nuance BUT, I
do understand what you mean.

http://www.postgresql.org/docs/current/interactive/installation.html#INSTALL-SHORT

I suppose could be expanded (or at least commented). That section should
probably read as overview since we still what the "long" version read too.

I was going to upgrade to 7.4.1 on my laptop so if people think a "Installing
PostgreSQL on Linux" technote is needed (and does not already exsist in another
form) then I'd be more than happy to do it.

> Another example? alright, data types. I found a very helpful list at the
> website but I didn't see the limitations per type (maximum lenght like
> MySQL says varchar max 255), or is it hidden somewhere on the PG website?.

??? That is right in the Data Types chapter...

http://www.postgresql.org/docs/7.4/static/datatype.html

> While working on PG with PHP I noticed several warnings and notices. The PG
> docs did mention all of them but not if they are good or bad so the hunting
> continues via google.
> FWIW, if you feed the message to the PG search it doesn't return anything.
>
> It would certainly help if the docs would clarify if something is good or
> bad.

I was just running something else so my mind is not mush but I thought the
messages reported were prepending with the standard syslog severity level, no?

> Some messages ago I saw someone writing about something like "this is the
> manual not handholding". IMO there is a difference between a well written
> and complete manual and handholding.
> Having said that, I realise it's a lot of work to keep good documentation
> into synch with development..

What was meant there (for my part in that) is that the docs are very complete
when you consider them as references. That is really what you are going to need
after you learn the product. I think what is coming out of this discussion
today is that we the current docs are references and might scare of people who
are need to SQL and/or PG so, we need something else to get them going and used
to how things are done in the PG world.

> If find the search on Postgresql.org slow and not always very logical, but
> I think that has been said before..

If this was IRC and we had a word bot slow and search would be in the top 5
today :)

> B.
>
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--
Keith C. Perry, MS E.E.
Director of Networks & Applications
VCSN, Inc.
http://vcsn.com

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