Re: Proof of concept: standalone backend with full FE/BE protocol

Simon Riggs <simon@2ndquadrant.com> writes:
> The most popular relational database in the world is Microsoft Access,
> not MySQL. Access appears desirable because it allows a single user to
> create and use a database (which is very good). But all business
> databases have a requirement for at least one of: high availability,
> multi-user access or downstream processing in other parts of the
> business.

That's a mighty sweeping claim, which you haven't offered adequate
evidence for.  The fact of the matter is that there is *lots* of demand
for simple single-user databases, and what I'm proposing is at least a
first step towards getting there.

The main disadvantage of approaching this via the existing single-user
mode is that you won't have any autovacuum, bgwriter, etc, support.
But the flip side is that that lack of infrastructure is a positive
advantage for certain admittedly narrow use-cases, such as disaster
recovery and pg_upgrade.  So while I agree that this isn't the only
form of single-user mode that we'd like to support, I think it is *a*
form we'd like to support, and I don't see why you appear to be against
having it at all.

A more reasonable objection would be that we need to make sure that this
isn't foreclosing the option of having a multi-process environment with
a single user connection.  I don't see that it is, but it might be wise
to sketch exactly how that case would work before accepting this.
        regards, tom lane