Using Python for my web site

[Cliff Wells]

On Mon, 2006-07-31 at 17:58 -0300, Gerhard Fiedler wrote:
> On 2006-07-31 17:28:00, Cliff Wells wrote:
> 
> >> I assume you don't agree... :)
> > 
> > I certainly don't.  [...]
> 
> > Also, saying "a few years ago I did some research" in software terms is
> > pretty much equivalent to saying "I don't know".
> 
> Exactly. So what's your point with this comment?

My point is to stop FUD right at that comment.  I don't doubt your
research from "a few years ago", but ancient research is entirely
irrelevant for making a decision *today*.

However, had I let it pass, then someone else might not make that
distinction and come away with the impression that your research was
somehow still relevant and that PostgreSQL is less reliable than MySQL.

> I stated what was my impression at the time, with the hope that others
> might want to comment. Thanks for the comment. 

You're welcome.

> OTOH, anybody who says "I know" regarding a comparison in reliability
> between databases must have pretty good data to back that up. Few have.
> Most are in the "I don't know, but my impression is that ..." group. 

Absolutely.  I can only give you anecdotal evidence myself.  Further, if
someone were to present a whitepaper of some sort demonstrating that one
is superior with regard to reliability or performance, I'd probably be
highly suspect of their motives.  

Regardless, since my job as a hoster requires that I assist customers
with database issues, I have hands-on experience with dozens of
instances of each and my *very recent* experience tells me that MySQL is
far more prone to database corruption than PostgreSQL.  In the past 6
months, I've repaired or restored at least 4 MySQL databases (and for no
apparent reason, to boot), but I've had to do the same for exactly zero
PostgreSQL installs since I started hosting over 3 years ago.  And just
to be clear, the number of PostgreSQL installs far exceeds the number of
MySQL installs.  Were there equal numbers of each I'd expect even more
MySQL problems.

Regards,
Cliff

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