Re: New press faq for release

On Thu, Jan 31, 2008 at 11:02:32PM -0800, Josh Berkus wrote:
> People,
>
> In preparation for the 8.3 release, here's an updated press faq. Please
> don't commit it until we actually do release. Thanks!
>
> --Josh

> Frequently Asked Questions
>
> Frequently Asked Questions
>
> Q: What is the current version of PostgreSQL?
> A: 8.3, which was released February 4, 2008.
>
> Q: 8.3? Does that mean it's a minor release?
> A: No. Because of the long history of our project the first two
> decimals are major releases. Thus 7.0, 8.1 and 8.2 were all major
> releases. Minor releases have numbers like 8.2.5. This is similar to
> how Linux and Apache number their versions. If we incremented the first
> digit for every major release, we'd be up to Version 18.
>
> Q: How is PostgreSQL licensed? How much does it cost?
> A: PostgreSQL is released under the BSD license. There is no fee, even
> for use in commercial software products. Please see
> [1]http://www.postgresql.org/about/licence
>
> Q: How many developers work on PostgreSQL?
> A: About 200. As with other open source projects, of course, we depend
> on hundreds of community members for documentation, translations,
> advocacy, conferences, website development, infrastructure, and
> peer-to-peer support.
>
> Q: How many PostgreSQL users are there, worldwide?
> A: Our wide distribution through the open source world and liberal
> licensing make that a difficult question to answer with any accuracy. A
> previous version, 8.0, had an estimated one million downloads within a
> seven months of release. However, most users get PostgreSQL with a
> Linux distribution, or with some of the many other products, OSS
> software, and hardware devices that include PostgreSQL. SDMagazine in a
> survey in summer 2004 estimated us as the 5th most popular SQL database
> system in the US for new projects, and many people have called us the
> 2nd most popular major database system in Japan.
>
> Q: What company owns PostgreSQL?
> A: None. We are an unincorporated association of volunteers and
> companies who share code under the BSD license. The PostgreSQL project
> involves more than a dozen companies who either support PostgreSQL
> contributors or directly contribute corporate projects to our
> repository. Our major corporate sponsors are on the [2]sponsors page,
> and there are many more companies who contribute to the project in
> minor ways.
>
> Q: Where can people get support for PostgreSQL?
> A: There are several companies which provide paid support for
> PostgreSQL. Most of them are regional in nature. People should contact
> the nearest regional contact volunteer to be connected with one or more
> companies, or check our [3]professional services list.
>
> Q: What's the relationship between the PostgreSQL Project,
> EnterpriseDB, PostgreSQL Inc., SRA, Greenplum, Sun Microsystems and
> others?
> A: The PostgreSQL project enjoys the support of multiple companies who
> sell projects or services built with PostgreSQL, and in turn contribute
> code, money and staff time to the project. None of them "own"
> PostgreSQL, nor is and individual company responsible for PostgreSQL
^^^^^^
This should probably read, "is an"

> code development. This is the same as Linux, Apache or FreeBSD.
>
> Q: How does PostgreSQL compare to MySQL?
> A: This is a topic that can start several hours of discussion. As a
> quick summary, MySQL is the "popular, easy-to-use" database, and
> PostgreSQL is the "feature-rich, standards-compliant" database. Beyond
> that, each database user should make their own evaluation; open source
> software makes doing your own comparison very easy.

Might mention licensing issue and project vs product.

> Q: How does PostgreSQL compare to Oracle/DB2/MS SQL Server/Informix?
> A: Our feature set is generally considered to be very competitive with
> other leading SQL RDBMSes. Certainly there are features some of them
> have which we don't, and the reverse is true. To date, only a few
> benchmarks have been published showing PostgreSQL to be within 10-30%
> of proprietary competitors. However, we have had many users migrate
> from other database systems – primarily Oracle and Informix – and they
> are completely satisfied with the performance of their PostgreSQL
> systems.
>
> Q: Can we talk to some of these users?
> A: Please contact press(at)postgresql(dot)org and our press volunteers will
> try to arrange a contact.
>
> Q: Does PostgreSQL Support 64-bit Computing?
> A: Yes. In fact, we've supported 64-bit systems for at least 10 years,
> just like a lot of other Unix and POSIX software. We do not yet support
> 64-bit Windows, however.
>
> Q: Are there any published benchmarks for PostgreSQL?
> A: To date there is one: a [4]SpecJAppserver2004 benchmark, which at
> time of publication was within 10% of the leading commercial SQL RDBMS.
> The community is working with our corporate sponsors to publish further
> benchmarks with other agencies and at higher levels of performance.
>
> Q: How does PostgreSQL compare to Ingres? Is there a relationship
> between the two projects?
> A: Currently, we have a shared history but no shared code with Ingres.
> Beyond that, we have had little contact with the new Ingres, Inc. and
> are unable to evaluate it.
>
> Q: Does PostgreSQL have replication?
> A: Yes, currently we have a half-dozen different replication tools,
> depending on the user's purpose and platform. This is limited to
> master-slave replication in stable production projects. Multi-master
> replication is available in the new unstable project Bucardo as well as
> in various clustering tools.
>
> Q: When will PostgreSQL get database server clustering?
> A: That depends on what kind of clustering you're seeking. The open
> source projects pgCluster and ____cluster are available, as well as
> proprietary tools BizgresMPP, GridSQL, and Uni/Cluster. pgPool2 is

PgPool-II has been out for some time.

> serious development and should have releases any day now, and
> SkyTools are available in beta. Also, PostgreSQL is supported by
> filesystem-based clustering systems for failover, including ones
> from Red Hat, Microsoft, Veritas and Sun.

This is at best misleading, as it leaves out the PITR needed to make
it work.

> Q: When will 8.4 come out?
> A: Historically, PostgreSQL has released approximately every 12 months
> and there is no desire in the community to change from that pattern. So
> expect 8.4 sometime in the fourth quarter of 2008.

Q1 2009 seems more realistic at this point.

> Q: What features will 8.4 have?
> A: As always, we can't be certain what will go in and what won't; the
> project has strict quality standards that not all patches can make
> before deadline. All we can tell you is what's being worked on, which
> includes: SQL-compliant updatable views, further performance
> improvements and reductions in database maintenance, upgrade-in-place,
> additional SMP scalability, autonomous transactions, and PSM stored
> procedures. By the time 8.4 is released, though, this feature list will
> have changed considerably.
>
> Q: How do you pronounce PostgreSQL
> A: post-GRES-que-ell, per this [5]audio file. Many people, however,
> just say "post-GREZ".

Actually, it's POST-gress-cue-ELL or POST-gress.

Cheers,
David.
--
David Fetter <david(at)fetter(dot)org> http://fetter.org/
Phone: +1 415 235 3778 AIM: dfetter666 Yahoo!: dfetter
Skype: davidfetter XMPP: david(dot)fetter(at)gmail(dot)com

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