[csw-maintainers] [csw-buildfarm] Building postgresql-8.4.1

Maciej (Matchek) Blizinski maciej at opencsw.org
Thu Dec 3 13:31:41 CET 2009


On Wed, Dec 2, 2009 at 3:28 PM, Dagobert Michelsen <dam at opencsw.org> wrote:
> You can boot a Solaris 8 and 9 Sparc in 32 or 64 bit. Yes, this is
> an artifical example. However, I have a very bad feeling selecting
> this at runtime.

I understand this gut feeling.  However, there aren't any obvious
failure modes (apart from the one where can run Solaris 8 in either 32
or 64 bit mode).  Also, there aren't much consequences of attempting
to run incompatible executable / data combinarion.  I tested that; the
database server just won't start up, there's an error message in the
log file, you can copy the files to a machine with the right
architecture, or you configure the start script to use the right
binary.

I'll put some information in the postinstall script, and also a README file.

> I just don't like the idea of copying an
> installation from one machine to another and it then doesn't work
> but I may be too picky here...

I think you might be too picky.  I talked to a PostgreSQL developer
today to ask about what practices are common for moving databases.
Moving raw data files can be used, but it's only expected to work
between machines of the same architecture.  Otherwise dump/restore or
replication can be used.

Meanwhile, I put PostgreSQL 8.4.1 into testing/.  It uses a different
layout than the current package:

- /opt/csw prefix
- /opt/csw/bin/postgresql/8.4/<binary>
- /var/opt/csw/postgresql/8.4/pgdata for the data
- includes contrib (pgbench, etc.)
- allows to choose between 32/64 bit
- uses isaexec by default



Maciej



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