Re: [HACKERS] Happy column dropping

> On Mon, 24 Jan 2000, Bruce Momjian wrote:
> 
> > New file name will not be just oid.  Too hard to administer.
> 
> How exactly does this play into administration? You don't actually do a cp
> /usr/local/pgsql/data/base/testdb/mytable /some/where to back up? ;)
> 
> What did the Unix kernel programmers think when they first introduced
> inodes? The wrote the readdir() library call. We have that too, it's
> called pg_class.
> 

Ingres has table names as numbered files.  It is a pain to figure out
which files match which tables.  If you need to restore a table from
tape, the pg_class entry is gone and you have no way to figure out the
right table.  When analyzing disk space, figuring who is using the space
is a pain.

Every Ingre admin I ever talked to agreed file numbers are a pain.

--  Bruce Momjian                        |  http://www.op.net/~candle pgman@candle.pha.pa.us               |  (610)
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