delivering database stand-alone

[Joost Kremers]

hi all,

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.

thanks for any comments and suggestions.

--
Joost Kremers
Life has its moments
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[Christopher Browne]

Martha Stewart called it a Good Thing wh**************@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.)
--
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[Ron Johnson]

On Mon, 2003-09-01 at 05:24, Joost Kremers wrote:

hi all,

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.

I think I'd go with ISAM files. Simpler to relocate to any direc-
tory tree.

--
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Ron Johnson, Jr. ro***********@cox.net
Jefferson, LA USA

YODA: Code! Yes. A programmer's strength flows from code
maintainability. But beware of Perl. Terse syntax... more
than one way to do it...default variables. The dark side of code
maintainability are they. Easily they flow, quick to join you
when code you write. If once you start down the dark path,
forever will it dominate your destiny, consume you it will.
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[Jacob Hanson]

You should check out Firebird (firebirdsql.sourceforge.net). I believe
your can set databases to be read-only and when embedding, Firebird is
a single DLL.

Jacob

On Mon, 01 Sep 2003 15:42:32 -0400, Christopher Browne
<cb******@acm.org> wrote:

Martha Stewart called it a Good Thing wh**************@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?