Re: Long term database archival

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Agent M wrote:
[snip]
>
> But the data from 35 years ago wasn't stored in Ingres and, if
> it's important, it won't stay in Ingres. The data shifts from
> format to format as technology progresses.

Ingres has been around for longer than you think: about 20 years.

So, the data has been converted one time in 35 years. Pretty damned
stable if you ask me.

Another example: the on-disk structure of RDB/VMS has remained
stable ever v1.0 in 1984. That means that upgrading from
major-version to major version (even when new datatypes and index
structures have been added) is a quick, trivial process.

Companies with lots of important data like that.

> It seemed to me that the OP wanted some format that would be
> readable in 20 years. No one can guarantee anything like that.

ASCII will be here in 20 years. So will EBCDIC. As will UTF.

- --
Ron Johnson, Jr.
Jefferson LA USA

Is "common sense" really valid?
For example, it is "common sense" to white-power racists that
whites are superior to blacks, and that those with brown skins
are mud people.
However, that "common sense" is obviously wrong.
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