mysql 5.0 released

[Bill Campbell]

On Wed, Oct 26, 2005, David A. Bandel wrote:
>Regurgitating the prose of Bill Campbell Bill Campbell
><linux-sxs at celestial.com> on Wed, 26 Oct 2005 09:58:06 -0700: begin  
>
>[snip]
>
>|>
>|>MySQL (like Windoze) is not ready for prime time.
>|
>|I think that's a bit harsh considering (a) the number of sites
>|using MySQL, and (b) it has had orders of magnitude fewer security
>|problems that Windows.
>
>in response to (a) Windoze has far more sites than any other
>combination of OSs out there.  How does that make it better.

Somebody accusing *ME* of supporting Micro$oft?

My point on quantity of MySQL in use wasn't in any way an
evaluation of MySQL, but meant to say that there are huge numbers
of sites using it without major problems (at least not that I've
seen in the many technical discussions I read daily.

We use MySQL with some software, notably the horde family,
jive_messenger, largely because their postgresql support isn't
all that great, and I don't feel like spending a lot of time
fixing something that isn't working.

>in response to (b) Let me see if my accountant agrees when my
>accounting database is corrupted (MySQL lacks referential integrity
>unless that was added in 5.0).  Since I don't follow MySQL (why follow
>software I don't use?) things may have improved, but I still think the
>InnoDB thing will hurt.

Referenctial integrity isn't the same as being robust in terms of
data corruption.  Referential integrity (e.g. foreign keys and
automatic enforcement of relations where one cannot easily delete
master records with associated detail records) makes programming
for logical consistency much easier, but isn't a cure-all.  The
Unify RDBMS and postgresql have referential integrity, but stores
their data in binary formats that may well get corrupted, and be
difficult to restore without appropriate backups and transaction
logging to restore from those backups.

MySQL has its uses, primarily if one has applications that are
farily lightweight, and need a very fast SQL back end.

We use postgresql for all our serious database work because of
its long history of ACID features.  While MySQL may have or be
adding these features, it's a young product in this respect, and
I much prefer to deal with more mature technologies.

I feel much more comfortable building commercial applications
with systems that have clear and unincumbered open source licensing.

Bill
--
INTERNET:   bill at Celestial.COM  Bill Campbell; Celestial Systems, Inc.
UUCP:               camco!bill  PO Box 820; 6641 E. Mercer Way
FAX:            (206) 232-9186  Mercer Island, WA 98040-0820; (206) 236-1676
URL: http://www.celestial.com/

Just because you do not take an interest in politics doesn't mean politics
won't take an interest in you. -- Pericles