Re: delivering database stand-alone

> -----Original Message-----
> From: Christopher Browne [mailto:cbbrowne@acm.org]
> Sent: Monday, September 01, 2003 12:43 PM
> To: pgsql-general@postgresql.org
> Subject: Re: [GENERAL] delivering database stand-alone
>
>
> Martha Stewart called it a Good Thing
> whenjoostkremers@fastmail.fm (Joost Kremers)wrote:
> > i am planning to build a database (a dictionary in fact)
> that i will
> > eventually want to distribute on a cd (or downloadable iso). what i
> > would like to know is if this is technically possible with
> postgresql.
> > and how exactly would it be done? would i have to make
> postgresql run
> > off the cd, or should it first be installed to the hard disk? (the
> > latter would be problematic on linux, given the many
> different distros
> > and their different package management systems...) how would i deal
> > with systems that already have a postgreql server or (more
> difficult
> > perhaps) a different database server running?
> >
> > or should i not make use of postgresql (or any database
> server) at all
> > for the cd? after all, the data in the database is static,
> users will
> > not have to modify it, just look it up.
>
> This sounds like a candidate for Dan Bernstein's "CDB" (Constant
> DataBase) library.  It builds highly efficient "compiled"
> hash tables, that are intended to be treated as "read-only."
> (In fact, they can't readily be updated, once compiled.)
>
> That presents three issues:
>
> 1.  It's basically doing "hash table" access; no ordering; no
>     approximate matches.
>
> 2.  No ability to submit SQL queries.
>
> 3.  Discussions of DJB's licensing arrangements tends to cause brain
>     haemorraging, anger, and other ills.  The Debian folk have
>     created an alternative version that I believe is in the
>     public domain (e.g. - not GPL; not LGPL; possibly "freer than
>     the BSD License").
>
> In contrast, read-only access to PostgreSQL databases is,
> while occasionally discussed, not currently attainable.
> (Not, at least, in a "burn the DB on CD" form.)

Something else to consider:
http://www.garret.ru/~knizhnik/databases.html

All freely available and open source.  They all use OO paradigm, and so
will be uncomfortable for those who are not used to it.