Re: The case for the One-Click Installer

----- "Josh Berkus" <josh(at)agliodbs(dot)com> wrote:

> All,
>
> Selena pointed out that the current argument about procedure is
> pointless. She's right. Therefore, let me explain *from an advocacy
>
> perspective* the reason why the one-click installer is important.
>
> Not that this means that we need to have EnterpriseDB do our
> installers,
> but it explains what would have to be replaced in a non-EDB community
>
> installer. And, for that matter, why I encouraged EnterpriseDB to
> build
> a one-click installer for community PostgreSQL last year.
>
> When I was working in the MySQL department at Sun last year, I got an
>
> earful on the things the PostgreSQL project had done wrong which MySQL
>
> AB had been able to take advantage of. There were some interesting
> surveys on why people chose to adopt MySQL over PostgreSQL (and I'll
> tell you that most of the reasons discussed here or on
> planetpostgresql
> are missing the point).
>
> One of the biggest reasons for people choosing MySQL was the "some
> assembly required" nature of PostgreSQL: the requirement to find and
> download 5 to 20 separate components, often from separate web sites,
> and
> compile and integrate them yourself. Further, even where operating
> system packages provided a lot of these extra components, the set of
> components available and what they're called varied widely between
> packages. And many components were simply not available on Windows.
>
> For a developer who "just wants a database" that approach is
> intolerable, and they'll use anything else which provides them a
> "complete package". As of 8.2, this issue was possibly the largest
> single blocker to increased PostgreSQL adoption, probably greater than
>
> built-in replication or any of the other technical features we like to
>
> talk about. Discussions about installers and packages on -hackers and
>
> other lists largely petered out without anyone offering to help.
>
> Therefore, we needed a "just install it" package. If I had been able
> to
> build this using the Sun team, I would have. However, only
> EnterpriseDB
> was in a position to supply the staff and technology.
>
> Since 8.3, the One-Click installer has been wildly successful in
> bringing in new users. On IRC, I'd estimate that 50% of new users
> showing up used it to install (higher on Mac or Windows).
>
> Therefore, any replacement of EnterpriseDB's "one click installer"
> needs
> to be able to replace the "just install it" functionality. And it
> needs
> to work as well as the One-Click does.
>
> Because EDB is a VC-funded company and may someday be sold, I agree
> that
> it's not healthy to be dependant on them for installers. One way to
> resolve this is for more people to help and get Dimitri's extension
> packaging system finished; if we had that, the issue of packaging all
>
> drivers and components would be come vastly decreased, and supporting
>
> multi-operating-system installers much easier. However, I've yet to
> see
> anyone arguing for an change of installers on this list volunteer to
> help Dimitri, and his project is liable to not complete this year due
> to
> lack of help.
>
> Further, let me point out again that the MSI installers were dropped
> because *absolutely nobody* wanted to put any work into them other
> than
> the EDB staff. So it's not like we're drowning in installation
> contributors.
>
> In other words, if you care about the installer situation and want to
>
> change it, the way to do so is to put in some work building
> installers,
> module packagers, or other tools to improve the community installation
>
> situation. *Not* shouting arguments about what EDB ought to do.
>
> I'll admit that I'm fundamentally lazy and would prefer to work on
> parts
> of PostgreSQL which EnterpriseDB isn't taking care of, like autotuning
>
> and tutorials. We have a TODO list long enough for 100 times the
> contributors we have now. But how any contributor spends their time
> is
> up to them.
>
> (and can I just say how much the arguments on this list sound like the
>
> "Red Hat is taking over Linux" of 2001?)
>
> --
> Josh Berkus
> PostgreSQL Experts Inc.
> www.pgexperts.com

+1 and thank you.