Re: Binaries vs Source

On Wed, Sep 10, 2008 at 4:48 AM, Peter Eisentraut <peter_e(at)gmx(dot)net> wrote:
> Naz wrote:
>>
>> Joshua Drake wrote:
>> > Oh.. actually I would find it very surprising if compile from source
>>
>> Given that PG does not do in-place upgrades, I don't see a benefit to
>> using binary packages. Upgrading a source install is as easy as upgrading a
>> binary install given you have to do a dump/restore anyway.
>>
>> Or am I missing something?
>
> The upgrading might not be different, but the *installing* is much simpler.
> With apt/yum/ports you can have PostgreSQL installed with literally 5
> seconds of work and 2 minutes of waiting. With a source install, you need
> to download, unpack, install dependencies, configure with all the options,
> make install, set up paths, set up data directory, initdb, write or obtain
> start script, set up start script, set up log files, set up log rotation,
> and other things. Even thinking up that list takes longer than a binary
> install. And you cannot do these things in less than 10 minutes, and if you
> are a first-time or occasional user, then it will probably take you an hour
> or more to do it properly.
>

OTOH, if you install from sources you can install patches as soon as
they are committed... then you can always have your installation at
the most recent minor version... and of course more protected from
bugs.

--
regards,
Jaime Casanova
Soporte y capacitación de PostgreSQL
Asesoría y desarrollo de sistemas
Guayaquil - Ecuador
Cel. +59387171157