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help / color / mirror / Atom feedFrom: claire@postgres.berkeley.edu
To: postgres@postgres.berkeley.edu
Subject: Re: SUN machines
Date: Wed, 10 Feb 93 09:08:42 -0800
Message-ID: <9302101708.AA03976@postgres.Berkeley.EDU> (raw)
Version 4.01 of the public-domain POSTGRES DBMS is now available
for distribution.
General improvements have been made in many areas. A strong
push toward "ansification" has resulted in the routing out of some
obscure problems.
New features include:
o Functional indices (secondary indices on single valued functions)
are now supported.
o The documentation, reference manual and tutorials have been completely
rewritten. The new version now accurately reflects the status of
POSTGRES implementation.
o Significant improvements in aggregate functionality have been added.
A number of built-in aggregates have been defined.
Postgres runs on Sparc I, Sparc II, Sun 4, diskful Sun 3's, and DECstations
running Ultrix >= 4.01, as well as Sequent Symmetry machines. Postgres
consists of about 200,000 lines of C.
If you would like to get Postgres 4.01, you can get it in one of two ways:
(1) Anonymous FTP from postgres.berkeley.edu
To FTP postgres to your site, type the following bracketed text without
brackets. You should see similar output.
% ftp 128.32.149.1
- or -
% ftp postgres.berkeley.edu
Connected to 128.32.149.1.
220 postgres FTP server (Version 4.4 Sun Feb 5 07:58:07 PST 1989) ready.
Name (128.32.149.1:): [ anonymous ]
331 Guest login ok, send ident as password.
Password:[ mylogin@myhost ]
230 Guest login ok, access restrictions apply.
ftp> [ cd pub/postgres ]
250 CWD command successful.
ftp> [ get postgres-setup.me.Z ]
200 PORT command successful.
150 Opening ASCII mode data connection for postgres-setup.me (NNNNNNN bytes).
ftp> [ binary ]
200 Type set to I.
ftp> [ get postgres-v4r0r1.tar.Z ]
200 PORT command successful.
150 Opening BINARY mode data connection for postgres-v3r1.tar.Z (NNNNNNN bytes).
226 Transfer complete.
local: postgres-v4r1.tar.Z remote: postgres-v3r1.tar.Z
NNNNNNN bytes received in MMM.MM seconds (KK Kbytes/s)
continue using the "get" command and obtain
the following files as well as the ones listed
in the example above.
postgres-v4r0r1.bugs
postgres.faq.Z
postgres-papers.tar.Z
then quit.
ftp> [ quit ]
221 Goodbye.
%
Or, if you do not have net.access, you can order a Postgres distribution
tape by sending a check payable to
the Regents of the University of California
for $150.00 to:
Postgres Project
557 Evans Hall
University of California
Berkeley, CA 94720.
Indicate in your accompanying letter whether you want
the system on a 9-track tape at 1600 BPI, at 6250 BPI,
on a cartridge tape for SUN shoeboxes (QIC 150 format),
or on a TK50 DEC cartridge tape.
Marc Teitelbaum
Postgres Chief Programmer
marc@postgres.berkeley.edu
_______________________
A Silicin Graphics version of Postgres v3r1 may be obtained by
anonymous ftp from vogon.llnl.gov The file to obtain is
/pub/sgipostgres.tar.Z We have done some testing of this port but it
has not been fully tested. We are not currently using this port and we
have no plans to port Postgres v4 to the SGI. You are welcome to use
this port but we can not maintain it.
Rowland R Johnson
(510) 423-3064
rowland@vogon.llnl.gov
Frequently Asked Questions about Postgres
Q: What Is Postgres?
Postgres is a database research project under Prof. Michael Stonebraker
at U. C. Berkeley. To facilitate research efforts, a software test-bed was
created; this is the "Postgres" DBMS software. The Postgres DBMS
is extended relational or object oriented, depending on the buzzword du
jour.
The major purpose of this software is to provide a platform and a basis
for the testing of implementations of new ideas in database research.
Several graduate students, staff members, as well as undergraduate
programmers have been working on the implementation of the Postgres
software. After this paragraph, all references to "Postgres" refer to the
software itself.
Postgres Is:
o Relational. One of the major goals of Postgres is to show that
an essentially relational DBMS can be extended to handle complex objects,
rules, and be highly extensible.
o Highly extensible. Postgres allows user-defined operators, user-defined
objects, and user-defined functions.
o While Postgres is relational, object oriented ideas have been implemented
in Postgres (inheritance, etc).
o Numerous other features, such as query language procedures, rules, etc.
which are beyond the scope of this discussion.
For more info on the Postgres research itself, you can get the
Postgres technical documentation described below.
Q. What is the connection between Postgres and Ingres?
A. There is none, aside from Prof. Stonebraker. There is no compatibility
between the two software packages, and the research projects have
differing objectives. We do not support University Ingres at all;
questions about it should be sent to the USENET group "comp.databases".
Q. How do I get the Postgres software package?
A. In one of two ways:
1. Via anonymous FTP from postgres.berkeley.edu (Internet 128.32.149.1);
the important files are
pub/postgres-v4r0r1.tar.Z (Note: should be transmitted in BINARY mode.)
pub/postgres-setup.me
2. If you don't have Internet access, you can get Postgres by sending
a check for US $150 payable to
Regents of the University of California
This should be addressed to
The Postgres Project
557 Evans Hall
University of California
Berkeley, CA 94720
Indicate in your accompanying letter whether you want the system on a
9-track tape at 1600 BPI, at 6250 BPI, on a Sun cartridge tape (QIC 150
format), or on a TK50 DEC cartridge tape.
Sorry - we cannot deliver Postgres via e-mail.
Q. What is the Postgres query language?
A. Postquel, which is an incompatible superset of Quel.
Q. What about SQL support?
A. We do not support SQL at this time.
Q. What does Postgres run on?
A. Postgres 3.1 is supported on Sun 4, Sparc, and DECstations running Ultrix
4.0 or higher. Ports are distributed (but not supported) for Sun 3's and
Sequent Symmetry machines. We are aware of ports for Solbourne (a Sparc
multiprocessor), MIPS workstations, and the Sun 386i, although we do _not_
have access to these ports and do not intend to support them.
The experience of outside developers indicates that Postgres is relatively
easy to port to any system that supports:
1. Berkeley-style sockets
2. System V shared memory and semaphores
3. A K & R compatible C compiler
4. Other "normal" Unix system calls
Some header file problems may be encountered; these are easily fixed by
a programmer knowledgable with the local OS. The most difficult part
of the port is porting the dynamic object code loader, which requires
interpreting object file headers.
Q. How do I get papers about Postgres?
A. On postgres.berkeley.edu is a file called
pub/postgres-papers.tar.Z
which contains troff and Postscript versions of several of the major
Postgres technical reports. If you don't have Internet access, you can
order hard-copies of technical reports individually; for more details,
send e-mail or call Elisa Kwon at (510) 642-3417; her e-mail address
is
elisa@postgres.berkeley.edu
Q. What is the status of the Postgres implementation?
A. It is not up to commercial levels of reliability. I would not want
_my_ payroll records in it :-) However, it is quite adaquate for
managing scientific and experimental datasets and as an instructional
system. Its speed on applications which stress transaction processing
is not particularly good, but it is within about 50% of commercial systems
on the more "report-oriented" Wisconsin benchmark, and is twice as fast
as University Ingres on the Wisconsin.
Q. Does Postgres have a user interface? A report generator?
A. No and no, at least as shipped. The Picasso package, which is also
available from postgres.berkeley.edu, provides a more graphical
interface to Postgres; as shipped, a bare-bones interface is provided
which allows the user to type in queries. There is no report generator.
Instructions for getting Picasso are in the file
pub/picasso-README
on postgres.berkeley.edu. For more information about Picasso, send mail
to
picasso@postgres.berkeley.edu
(Note that Picasso requires Lisp)
Q. What about a C-callable interface for writing applications?
A. There most definitiely is one, called libpq. There is also an interface
for referencing Postgres data from shell scripts. Get the Postgres
reference manual for details.
Q. Is there a BBS/discussion group about Postgres?
A. Yes - the mailing list
postgres@postgres.berkeley.edu
has over two hundred readers and gateways; you can subscribe to the mailing
list by sending mail to
postgres-request@postgres.berkeley.edu
with "ADD" as the Subject.
You UNsubscribe from the mailing list by sending mail to
postgres-request@postgres.berkeley.edu
with "DEL" as the Subject.
Q. How do I make a bug report?
A. If you find a bug, send a description of your database schema, queries,
and a stack dump (type "where" in DBX) if possible to
bug-postgres@postgres.berkeley.edu
Q. How do I find out about known bugs?
A. The known bug list is on Postgres in the file
pub/postgres-v4r0r1.bugs
Q. Please summarize the important files on postgres.berkeley.edu
A. File Purpose
pub/postgres-v4r0r1.tar.Z Complete Postgres distribution
pub/postgres-v4r0r1.bugs Postgres 4.1 known bug list and workarounds
pub/postgres-setup.me Postgres Installation instructions in troff
pub/postgres-papers.tar.Z Postgres papers
pub/postgres-README Description of files available
pub/picasso-README Instructions for getting Picasso
Q. Please summarize the important Postgres mailing aliases
A. Mailing Address Purpose
postgres@postgres Postgres general discussion and announcements
postgres-request@postgres Administrative requests (ADD/DEL)
bug-postgres@postgres Postgres bug reports
postgres-questions@postgres Questions to the developers of Postgres
picasso@postgres Questions to the Picasso group
Q. Please summarize the main contacts at the Postgres group
A. Address/Phone Role
Marc Teitelbaum Postgres Chief Programmer
marc@postgres.berkeley.edu
(510) 643-6448
Elisa Kwon Secretary to the Postgres group
elisa@postgres.berkeley.edu
(510) 642-3417
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To: postgres@postgres.berkeley.edu
Cc: claire@postgres.berkeley.edu
Subject: Re: SUN machines
In-Reply-To: <9302101708.AA03976@postgres.Berkeley.EDU>
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