Re: Binaries vs Source

Naz wrote:
> Joshua Drake wrote:
>  > Oh.. actually I would find it very surprising if compile from source
>
> Given that PG does not do in-place upgrades, I don't see a benefit to
> using binary packages. Upgrading a source install is as easy as
> upgrading a binary install given you have to do a dump/restore anyway.
>
> Or am I missing something?

The upgrading might not be different, but the *installing* is much
simpler.  With apt/yum/ports you can have PostgreSQL installed with
literally 5 seconds of work and 2 minutes of waiting.  With a source
install, you need to download, unpack, install dependencies, configure
with all the options, make install, set up paths, set up data directory,
initdb, write or obtain start script, set up start script, set up log
files, set up log rotation, and other things.  Even thinking up that
list takes longer than a binary install.  And you cannot do these things
in less than 10 minutes, and if you are a first-time or occasional user,
then it will probably take you an hour or more to do it properly.