Обсуждение: Standalone Postgres

Hello!

    Is it possible to have a CD with database and postgres binaries
(win32), which can be directly run (without any installation) ? Or if it
is impossible to be run from read-only media, to have it as
self-extracting archive, which can be run from any user account ?
The goal is to have some demonstration CD with some viewer, database and
postgres engine, which can be easily run by any windows user without
installation.

best regards
Jarek

You won't be able to run it all off CD no, as Postgres requires
log/transaction files etc to be written to.  It also requires a service
user/data directory so it would have to be installed.

If you don't require the functionality etc of Postgres (and haven't
developed your solution yet) you might be better off looking at something
like SQLlite, which uses flat-files.

Andy

> -----Original Message-----
> From: pgsql-admin-owner@postgresql.org [mailto:pgsql-admin-
> owner@postgresql.org] On Behalf Of Jarek
> Sent: 07 June 2006 8:30 am
> To: pgsql-admin@postgresql.org
> Subject: [ADMIN] Standalone Postgres
>
> Hello!
>
>     Is it possible to have a CD with database and postgres binaries
> (win32), which can be directly run (without any installation) ? Or if it
> is impossible to be run from read-only media, to have it as
> self-extracting archive, which can be run from any user account ?
> The goal is to have some demonstration CD with some viewer, database and
> postgres engine, which can be easily run by any windows user without
> installation.
>
> best regards
> Jarek
>
>
> ---------------------------(end of broadcast)---------------------------
> TIP 3: Have you checked our extensive FAQ?
>
>                http://www.postgresql.org/docs/faq
>
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>

Dnia 07-06-2006, śro o godzinie 09:01 +0100, Andy Shellam napisał(a):
> You won't be able to run it all off CD no, as Postgres requires
> log/transaction files etc to be written to.  It also requires a service
> user/data directory so it would have to be installed.

OK. Let's assume, that I will have self extracting archive, which will
install all files on some temporary directory on user machine. Will it
work ?


> If you don't require the functionality etc of Postgres (and haven't
> developed your solution yet) you might be better off looking at something
> like SQLlite, which uses flat-files.

I want to create demo of application which uses postgres, so it HAVE to
be postgres...

best regards
Jarek

You would need to write your own installation script that would:
a) create the temporary data directory
b) install Postgres with all default options
c) modify the pg_hba.conf file to allow localhost trust access (ie. No
password) - and restart Postgres
d) load the dump of your database into Postgres
e) start your demo and wait for it to exit
f) when demo has exited, stop and uninstall Postgres
g) remove data directory

It depends how the MSI installer for Postgres will handle the "silent
install" option, but you could use NSIS to do most if not all of this
(http://nsis.sourceforge.net.)

Andy

> -----Original Message-----
> From: pgsql-admin-owner@postgresql.org [mailto:pgsql-admin-
> owner@postgresql.org] On Behalf Of Jarek
> Sent: 07 June 2006 9:11 am
> To: pgsql-admin@postgresql.org
> Subject: Re: [ADMIN] Standalone Postgres
>
> Dnia 07-06-2006, sro o godzinie 09:01 +0100, Andy Shellam napisal(a):
> > You won't be able to run it all off CD no, as Postgres requires
> > log/transaction files etc to be written to.  It also requires a service
> > user/data directory so it would have to be installed.
>
> OK. Let's assume, that I will have self extracting archive, which will
> install all files on some temporary directory on user machine. Will it
> work ?
>
>
> > If you don't require the functionality etc of Postgres (and haven't
> > developed your solution yet) you might be better off looking at
> something
> > like SQLlite, which uses flat-files.
>
> I want to create demo of application which uses postgres, so it HAVE to
> be postgres...
>
> best regards
> Jarek
>
>
> ---------------------------(end of broadcast)---------------------------
> TIP 5: don't forget to increase your free space map settings
>
> !DSPAM:14,44868a9c256841952411642!
>

On Wed, 2006-06-07 at 03:01, Andy Shellam wrote:


> > Hello!
> >
> >     Is it possible to have a CD with database and postgres binaries
> > (win32), which can be directly run (without any installation) ? Or if it
> > is impossible to be run from read-only media, to have it as
> > self-extracting archive, which can be run from any user account ?
> > The goal is to have some demonstration CD with some viewer, database and
> > postgres engine, which can be easily run by any windows user without
> > installation.
> >
> > best regards
> > Jarek
> >
> You won't be able to run it all off CD no, as Postgres requires
> log/transaction files etc to be written to.  It also requires a service
> user/data directory so it would have to be installed.
>
> If you don't require the functionality etc of Postgres (and haven't
> developed your solution yet) you might be better off looking at something
> like SQLlite, which uses flat-files.

Actually there is a live pg cd distro out there somewhere.  I've got a
copy of it I can reseed the torrent if anyone wants it.

I'm sure it's a bit out of date by now, but it's a pretty cool little
trick.

You might check out Knoppix.  If your app will run on Linux you could create a full bootable Knoppix CD with everything installed - then they can play around all they want and just reboot to reset everything.  I am not sure if there is a Knoppix distro that can run within Windows.

I do video demos.  I know that doesn't allow the user to play but you can really show off the tool in a controlled manner.  Check Instant Demo at http://www.instant-demo.com/ - I bought it recently and love it.  It even makes Flash versions so you can put them up on your web site.

-Aaron

On Wed, Jun 07, 2006 at 09:25:18AM +0100, Andy Shellam wrote:
> You would need to write your own installation script that would:
> a) create the temporary data directory
> b) install Postgres with all default options
> c) modify the pg_hba.conf file to allow localhost trust access (ie. No
> password) - and restart Postgres
> d) load the dump of your database into Postgres
> e) start your demo and wait for it to exit
> f) when demo has exited, stop and uninstall Postgres
> g) remove data directory
>
> It depends how the MSI installer for Postgres will handle the "silent
> install" option, but you could use NSIS to do most if not all of this
> (http://nsis.sourceforge.net.)

And what happens if the user running this is an admin on the box?
PostgreSQL will refuse to start. Though, there is a patch floating
around that changes that, should you wish to build your own version...
--
Jim C. Nasby, Sr. Engineering Consultant      jnasby@pervasive.com
Pervasive Software      http://pervasive.com    work: 512-231-6117
vcard: http://jim.nasby.net/pervasive.vcf       cell: 512-569-9461