"Kevin Baker" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> writes: >> installation. PostgreSQL is no slower than MySQL for similar work, >> and it is faster under pressure, since it scales better with load >> than MySQL does. (Same pattern, for the same reasons, as when >> comparing Oracle to MS-SQL.) > > I guess a bit OT for this thread, but has this been > confirmed? That PostgreSQL scales better, faster on larger > implementations? Is this due to PostreSQL transaction > support in DBMail?
There have been no tests that I know of comparing PostgreSQL and MySQL with DBMail. There have been extensive comparisons of the two systems in general, and they have shown, unsurprisingly, that MySQL has an edge when doing extremely simple things where the fact that it's not an RDBMS lets it not bother with work that PostgreSQL, a proper RDBMS, has to do. However, about two years ago, experiments conducted by the people at Slashdot showed that the two systems were comparable even for simple tasks, while PostgreSQL totally whipped MySQL once the going got tough -- it's built to handle complex queries, and it's also built to withstand the pressure of many simultaneous users. MySQL is not, and takes a really bad performance hit when loaded down. The main reason for this is very primitive locking algorithms in MySQL. If you've seen MS-SQL choke under pressure, in situations that Oracle handled gracefully, you've seen the exact same difference at work. However, this data is not very new, and from what I've been told, the people at MySQL have been reimplementing their locking to work the way PostgreSQL does, and they're starting to catch up. MySQL is still much more primitive, and has severe limitations compared to proper database systems. The thing is, you see, MySQL was ready at the right time, and became the default "database system" for Linux applications. This mirrors the very fact that Linux is the default Open Source UNIX: if AT&T hadn't sued the University of California at Berkeley when they did, people would be running BSD instead of Linux. As it was, Linux was there when the time was right, and is now the de facto standard, even though it still has some catching up to do, quality-wise. -tih -- Tom Ivar Helbekkmo, Senior System Administrator, EUnet Norway Hosting www.eunet.no T +47-22092958 M +47-93013940 F +47-22092901 FWD 484145
