Re: Question on oid's

I am also new to Postgresql though not ORDBMS systems ... why should you not
use OIDs as a primary key in Postgresql?

Joe

----- Original Message -----
From: "Josh Berkus" <josh@agliodbs.com>
To: "Juliet May" <jmay@speark.com>; <pgsql-novice@postgresql.org>
Sent: Tuesday, April 09, 2002 11:19 PM
Subject: Re: [NOVICE] Question on oid's


> Juliet,
>
> > My first question is about oid's. What are they exactly and when
> > should/shouldn't I use them. I had trouble finding any information on
> > them in either the online documentation or the online books. I'm
> > using pgadmin to develop my database and I noticed that once I select
> > or don't select oid that I can't change my mind.
>
> We need a FAQ on this.  Sigh.
>
> OIDs are for system use.  Occasionally some developers will build
> transaction tables, to which thousands or millions of records will be
> written and erased per day.  For that case (and that case only) they
> will build "OID-less tables" in Postgres 7.2.
>
> Otherwise, you should build your tables with OIDs, but then ignore the
> OIDs and not use them as an index.  The system helps by "hiding" the
> OID column from you.
>
> Should you run across documentation suggesting that you use the OID as
> an index or primary, key, that documentation is outdated.
>
> -Josh Berkus
>
>
>
>
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