Chris Kings-Lynne's Blog

Hi All,

I haven't posted or been active on the PostgreSQL or phpPgAdmin projects for some time now. This is because I've been busy with the setting up of my own business, writing custom software:

KKL Software

I've pretty much handed over the phpPgAdmin project to Rob Treat now, and I'm afraid you won't see much of me any more on the lists, and cvs logs.

This is because I'm no longer working with PostgreSQL (or PHP), not that I'm not interested

Maybe one day when I get free time again, you'll see me back

For now, just mail me personally if you need something done with any of the projects I'm still an admin for.

Cheers,

Chris

I have recently discovered the wonderful PHP SimpleTest web and commandline regression testing package.

It is utterly fantastic and allows you to write regression tests for your website, as if the test package was roaming your site like a regular user.

Check it out: Simple Test

In particular, look at the web tester component.

I was reading PlanetMySQL the other day as I've been following the adventures of Markus Popp as he starts a PostgreSQL job after having worked with MySQL for many years.

He was lamenting the lack of GROUP_CONCAT in PostgreSQL. I pointed him towards the implementation in the MySQL Compatibility Library, and he's now written about it.

You can read his thoughts (and follow his PostgreSQL experience) here.

An interview with myself and various other PostgreSQL luminaries has appeared on NewsForge:

http://software.newsforge.com/software/05/12/15/1611251.shtml?tid=72

It's related to my new project, the MySQL Compatibility Functions library.

The Sample Databases project has now released a port of the normal-sized Dell Store 2 (http://linux.dell.com/dvdstore/) database for PostgreSQL.

This is a great database to learn how to query reasonably large tables. The tables are all in the tens of thousands of rows.

Get it here:

http://pgfoundry.org/projects/dbsamples/

I've just made an initial beta release of the MySQL Compatibility Functions project.

You can download it from here:

http://pgfoundry.org/projects/mysqlcompat/

It includes:

- Almost all MySQL functions, operators and aggregates
- Detailed installation guide
- An uninstall script
- Detailed compatibility notes and porting suggestions

If you are looking for a particular MySQL function in PostgreSQL to save you time in porting, please have a look.

I expect to make a final 1.0 release in a few days.

A new point release of phpPgAdmin is now available that fixes some significant issues in phpPgAdmin 4.0. In particular, all issues related to non-English languages have been fixed.

Download here:

http://phppgadmin.sf.net/

I have just launched a new project on PGFoundry.org: MySQL Compatibility Functions.

So far I have done all the mathematical functions, and the control flow functions.

If anyone wants to step up and help me finish off all the MySQL string, date and miscellaneous functions I'd be grateful. Contact me before you get started so I can coordinate things.

I hope that this project will make it quite a bit easier to quickly port MySQL-only applications to PostgreSQL.

Download from:

http://phppgadmin.sf.net/

I have just created a new project on PGFoundry: Sample Databases.

The aim is to collect many sample databases that people can use to learn, evaluate, test, compare or benchmark PostgreSQL.

It currently only contains a PostgreSQL port of MySQL's "world" database.

In the future, I'd like to port MicroSoft's Northwind database (provided doing such a thing is legal), port the new Sakila MySQL 5 example database and create a tutorial database for the main PostgreSQL distribution.

Submissions of example database from the public are more than welcome, and I'll accept other developers on the project happily.

I feel like a not-so-serious post today, so I thought I'd tell all (3) of my faithful readers about the world's best geek hobby - board gaming

No, these ain't your dad's boardgames, these are the good stuff - German games or Euro Games.

To see what I'm talking about, and perhaps blow a few hundred bucks, check out the Board Game Geek:

http://www.boardgamegeek.com/

In particular, the 'Games by rank' list on the left will get you started.  It's also good to read the introduction.

If you do feel like buying a board game, then I've always had good experiences with Boards & Bits.

If it looks interesting to you and you feel like you want a game recommendation, drop me a line.

Enjoy

I recently had the opportunity to take the SRA PostgreSQL CE Silver exam for free, thanks to a community promotion by SRA Postgres.

I passed the exam fairly easily (being a PostgreSQL developer), but I did think it was more difficult than I was expecting. You would need to be rather familiar with all aspects of PostgreSQL to get a good score - so it is a decent measure of your ability.

On the downside, the exam is somewhat out of date these days (targeted at PostgreSQL 7.4, only on Unix). I am told by SRA that they are in the process of updating the Gold certification to PostgreSQL 8.1, which is good news.

It's been a long time since the last major phpPgAdmin release and there are many changes in the upcoming 4.0 version.

We need all the help we can get testing the new release, so please if you have the chance, download the latest snapshot release from here and use it instead of the 3.5.x series.

Report any bugs you find in our SourceForge tracker.

phpPgAdmin development has slowed somewhat to a halt these last few weeks.  A lack of time on my part and a lot of fixing and backporting for the 3.5.x releases has meant no new 4.0 work has occurred for some time.

Unfortunately now I'm off for holidays in a week or two for a few weeks, so things will be delayed yet again.  I really want to get the new Slony and multiserver code out there, so perhaps I will arrange for a preview release to be made before I go away - that way we'll have help from the community getting the damn thing ready for release!