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diff --git a/doc/src/sgml/intro.sgml b/doc/src/sgml/intro.sgml index 45b42e43cca..b777099bcf3 100644 --- a/doc/src/sgml/intro.sgml +++ b/doc/src/sgml/intro.sgml @@ -5,11 +5,13 @@ This document is the user manual for the <Ulink url="http://postgresql.org/"><ProductName>PostgreSQL</ProductName></Ulink> database management system, originally developed at the University - of California at Berkeley. <ProductName>PostgreSQL</ProductName> is based on + of California at Berkeley. + +<ProductName>PostgreSQL</ProductName> is based on <Ulink url="http://s2k-ftp.CS.Berkeley.EDU:8000/postgres/postgres.html"> <ProductName>Postgres release 4.2</ProductName></Ulink>. The <ProductName>Postgres</ProductName> project, - led by Professor Michael Stonebraker, has been sponsored by the + led by Professor Michael Stonebraker, was sponsored by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (<Acronym>DARPA</Acronym>), the Army Research Office (<Acronym>ARO</Acronym>), the National Science Foundation (<Acronym>NSF</Acronym>), and ESL, Inc. @@ -65,418 +67,13 @@ it is firmly in the relational database world. In fact, some commercial database have recently incorporated features pioneered by <ProductName>Postgres</ProductName>. </Sect1> - -<Sect1> -<Title>A Short History of <ProductName>Postgres</ProductName></Title> - -<Sect2> -<Title>The Berkeley <ProductName>Postgres</ProductName> Project</Title> - -<Para> - Implementation of the <ProductName>Postgres</ProductName> <Acronym>DBMS</Acronym> began in 1986. The - initial concepts for the system were presented in -<!-- -<XRef LinkEnd="STON86"> ---> -<Citation>[STON86]</Citation> - and the definition of the initial data model - appeared in -<!-- -<XRef LinkEnd="ROWE87">. ---> -<Citation>[ROWE87]</Citation>. -The design of the rule system at - that time was described in -<!-- -<XRef LinkEnd="STON87a">. ---> -<Citation>[STON87a]</Citation>. -The rationale - and architecture of the storage manager were detailed in -<!-- -<XRef LinkEnd="STON87b">. ---> -<Citation>[STON87b]</Citation>. -</Para> - -<Para> - <ProductName>Postgres</ProductName> has undergone several major releases since - then. The first "demoware" system became operational - in 1987 and was shown at the 1988 <Acronym>ACM-SIGMOD</Acronym> - Conference. We released Version 1, described in -<!-- -<XRef LinkEnd="STON90a">, ---> -<Citation>[STON90a]</Citation>, - to a few external users in June 1989. In response to a - critique of the first rule system -<!-- -(<XRef LinkEnd="STON89">), ---> -(<Citation>[STON89]</Citation>), -the rule - system was redesigned -<!-- -(<XRef LinkEnd="STON90b">) ---> -(<Citation>[STON90b]</Citation>) -and Version 2 was - released in June 1990 with the new rule system. - Version 3 appeared in 1991 and added support for multiple - storage managers, an improved query executor, and a - rewritten rewrite rule system. For the most part, - releases since then have focused on portability and - reliability. -</Para> - -<Para> - <ProductName>Postgres</ProductName> has been used to implement many different - research and production applications. These include: a - financial data analysis system, a jet engine - performance monitoring package, an asteroid tracking - database, a medical information database, and several - geographic information systems. <ProductName>Postgres</ProductName> has also been - used as an educational tool at several universities. - Finally, <Ulink url="http://www.illustra.com/">Illustra Information Technologies</Ulink> picked up - the code and commercialized it. - <ProductName>Postgres</ProductName> became the primary data manager for the - <Ulink url="http://www.sdsc.edu/0/Parts_Collabs/S2K/s2k_home.html">Sequoia 2000</Ulink> - scientific computing project in late 1992. - Furthermore, the size of the external user community - nearly doubled during 1993. It became increasingly - obvious that maintenance of the prototype code and - support was taking up large amounts of time that should - have been devoted to database research. In an effort - to reduce this support burden, the project officially - ended with Version 4.2. -</Para> -</Sect2> - -<Sect2> -<Title><ProductName>Postgres95</ProductName></Title> - -<Para> -In 1994, -<ULink url="mailto:ayu@informix.com">Andrew Yu</ULink> -and -<ULink url="http://http.cs.berkeley.edu/~jolly/">Jolly Chen</ULink> -added a SQL language interpreter to <ProductName>Postgres</ProductName>, and the code was subsequently released to -the Web to find its own way in the world. <ProductName>Postgres95</ProductName> was a public-domain, open source descendant -of this original Berkeley code. -</Para> - -<Para> - <ProductName>Postgres95</ProductName> is a derivative of the last official release - of <ProductName>Postgres</ProductName> (version 4.2). The code is now completely - ANSI C and the code size has been trimmed by 25%. There - are a lot of internal changes that improve performance - and code maintainability. <ProductName>Postgres95</ProductName> v1.0.x runs about 30-50% - faster on the Wisconsin Benchmark compared to v4.2. - Apart from bug fixes, these are the major enhancements: - -<ItemizedList> -<ListItem> -<Para> - The query language <ProductName>Postquel</ProductName> has been replaced with - <Acronym>SQL</Acronym> (implemented in the server). We do not yet support - subqueries (which can be imitated with user defined - <Acronym>SQL</Acronym> functions). Aggregates have been - re-implemented. We also added support for ``GROUP BY''. - The <FileName>libpq</FileName> interface is still available for <Acronym>C</Acronym> - programs. -</Para> -</ListItem> -<ListItem> -<Para> - In addition to the monitor program, we provide a new - program (<Application>psql</Application>) which supports <Acronym>GNU</Acronym> <FileName>readline</FileName>. -</Para> -</ListItem> -<ListItem> -<Para> - We added a new front-end library, <FileName>libpgtcl</FileName>, that - supports <Acronym>Tcl</Acronym>-based clients. A sample shell, - pgtclsh, provides new Tcl commands to interface <Application>tcl</Application> - programs with the <ProductName>Postgres95</ProductName> backend. -</Para> -</ListItem> -<ListItem> -<Para> - The large object interface has been overhauled. We - kept Inversion large objects as the only mechanism - for storing large objects. (This is not to be - confused with the Inversion file system which has been - removed.) -</Para> -</ListItem> -<ListItem> -<Para> - The instance-level rule system has been removed. - Rules are still available as rewrite rules. -</Para> -</ListItem> -<ListItem> -<Para> - A short tutorial introducing regular <Acronym>SQL</Acronym> features as - well as those of ours is distributed with the source - code. -</Para> -</ListItem> -<ListItem> -<Para> - <Acronym>GNU</Acronym> make (instead of <Acronym>BSD</Acronym> make) is used for the - build. Also, <ProductName>Postgres95</ProductName> can be compiled with an - unpatched <ProductName>gcc</ProductName> (data alignment of doubles has been - fixed). -</Para> -</ListItem> -</ItemizedList> -</Para> -</Sect2> - -<Sect2> -<Title><ProductName>PostgreSQL</ProductName></Title> - -<Para> -By 1996, it became clear that the name <Quote>Postgres95</Quote> would not stand -the test of time. A new name, <ProductName>PostgreSQL</ProductName>, was chosen to reflect the -relationship between original <ProductName>Postgres</ProductName> and the more recent -versions with <Acronym>SQL</Acronym> capability. At the same time, the version numbering -was reset to start at 6.0, putting the numbers back into the sequence originally begun by -the <ProductName>Postgres</ProductName> Project. - -<Para> -The emphasis on development for the v1.0.x releases of <ProductName>Postgres95</ProductName> -was on stabilizing the backend code. -With the v6.x series of <ProductName>PostgreSQL</ProductName>, the emphasis has shifted from -identifying and understanding existing problems in the backend to augmenting features and capabilities, although -work continues in all areas. - -<Para> -Major enhancements include: - -<ItemizedList> -<ListItem> -<Para> -Important backend features, including subselects, defaults, constraints, and triggers, have been implemented. -</Para> -</ListItem> -<ListItem> -<Para> -Additional <Acronym>SQL92</Acronym>-compliant language features have been added, - including primary keys, quoted identifiers, literal string type coersion, type casting, - and binary and hexadecimal integer input. -</Para> -</ListItem> -<ListItem> -<Para> -Built-in types have been improved, including new wide-range date/time types and additional geometric type support. -</Para> -</ListItem> -<ListItem> -<Para> -Overall backend code speed has been increased by approximately 20%, and backend startup time has decreased 80%. -</Para> -</ListItem> -</ItemizedList> -</Para> -</Sect2> - -<Sect1> -<Title>About This Release</Title> - -<Para> - From now on, We will use <ProductName>Postgres</ProductName> to mean <ProductName>PostgreSQL</ProductName>. - -<Para> - <ProductName>PostgreSQL</ProductName> is available without cost. This manual - describes version 6.3 of <ProductName>PostgreSQL</ProductName>. - -<Para> -Check the Administrator's Guide for a list of currently supported machines. In general, -<ProductName>PostgreSQL</ProductName> is portable to any Unix/Posix-compatible system -with full libc library support. - -</Sect1> -<Sect1> -<Title>Resources</Title> +&history; -<Para> -This manual set is organized into several parts: +&about; -<VariableList> -<VarListEntry> -<Term>Tutorial</Term> -<ListItem> -<Para> -An introduction for new users. Does not cover advanced features. -</Para> -</ListItem> -</VarListEntry> +&info; -<VarListEntry> -<Term>User's Guide</Term> -<ListItem> -<Para> -General information for users, including available commands and data types. -</Para> -</ListItem> -</VarListEntry> - -<VarListEntry> -<Term>Programmer's Guide</Term> -<ListItem> -<Para> -Advanced information for application programmers. Topics include -type and function extensibility, library interfaces, and application design issues. -</Para> -</ListItem> -</VarListEntry> - -<VarListEntry> -<Term>Administrator's Guide</Term> -<ListItem> -<Para> -Installation and management information. List of supported machines. -</Para> -</ListItem> -</VarListEntry> - -<VarListEntry> -<Term>Developer's Guide</Term> -<ListItem> -<Para> -Information for <ProductName>Postgres</ProductName> developers. This is intended -for those who are contributing to the <ProductName>Postgres</ProductName> -project; application development information should appear in the Programmer's Guide. -</Para> -</ListItem> -</VarListEntry> - -<VarListEntry> -<Term>Reference Manual</Term> -<ListItem> -<Para> -Detailed reference information on command syntax. -At the moment, this manual is very sparse, but eventually should contain -information similar to that in the man pages. -</Para> -</ListItem> -</VarListEntry> -</VariableList> - -<Para> -In addition to this manual set, there are other resources to help you with -<ProductName>Postgres</ProductName> installation and use: - -<VariableList> -<VarListEntry> -<Term>man pages</Term> -<ListItem> -<Para> -The man pages have general information on command syntax. -</Para> -</ListItem> -</VarListEntry> - -<VarListEntry> -<Term>FAQs</Term> -<ListItem> -<Para> -The Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) documents address both general issues -and some platform-specific issues. -</Para> -</ListItem> -</VarListEntry> - -<VarListEntry> -<Term>READMEs</Term> -<ListItem> -<Para> -README files are available for some contributed packages. -</Para> -</ListItem> -</VarListEntry> - -<VarListEntry> -<Term>Web Site</Term> -<ListItem> -<Para> -The <ULink url="postgresql.org"><ProductName>Postgres</ProductName></ULink> web site has some information -not appearing in the distribution. There is a <ProductName>mhonarc</ProductName> catalog of mailing list traffic -which is a rich resource for many topics. -</Para> -</ListItem> -</VarListEntry> - -<VarListEntry> -<Term>Mailing Lists</Term> -<ListItem> -<Para> -The <ULink url="mailto:questions@postgresql.org"><ProductName>Postgres</ProductName> Questions</ULink> -mailing list is a good place to have user questions answered. Other mailing lists are available; consult -the web page for details. -</Para> -</ListItem> -</VarListEntry> - -<VarListEntry> -<Term>Yourself!</Term> -<ListItem> -<Para> -<ProductName>Postgres</ProductName> is an open source product. As such, it depends on the user community for -ongoing support. As you begin to use <ProductName>Postgres</ProductName>, you will rely on others -for help, either through the documentation or through the mailing lists. Consider contributing your -knowledge back. If you learn something which is not in the documentation, write it up and contribute it. -If you add features to the code, contribute it. Even those without a lot of experience can provide -corrections and minor changes in the documentation, and that is a good way to start. -The <ULink url="mailto:docs@postgresql.org"><ProductName>Postgres</ProductName> Documentation</ULink> -mailing list is the place to get going. -</Para> -</ListItem> -</VarListEntry> -</VariableList> - -</Sect1> - -<Sect1> -<Title>Copyrights and Trademarks</Title> - -<Para> -<ProductName>PostgreSQL</ProductName> is copyright (C) 1996-8 by the PostgreSQL Global Development Group, -and is distributed under the terms of the Berkeley license. - -<Para> -<ProductName>Postgres95</ProductName> is copyright (C) 1994-5 by the Regents of the University of California. -Permission to use, copy, modify, and distribute this software and its documentation -for any purpose, without fee, and without a written agreement is hereby granted, -provided that the above copyright notice and this paragraph and the following two -paragraphs appear in all copies. -</Para> -<Para> -In no event shall the University of California be liable to -any party for direct, indirect, special, incidental, or consequential -damages, including lost profits, arising out of the use of this -software and its documentation, even if the University of California -has been advised of the possibility of such damage. -</Para> -<Para> -The University of California specifically disclaims any -warranties, including, but not limited to, the implied warranties -of merchantability and fitness for a particular purpose. -The software provided hereunder is on an "as-is" basis, and -the University of California has no obligations to provide -maintainance, support, updates, enhancements, or modifications. -</Para> - -<Para> -<Acronym>UNIX</Acronym> is a trademark of X/Open, Ltd. Sun4, SPARC, SunOS -and Solaris are trademarks of Sun Microsystems, Inc. DEC, -DECstation, Alpha AXP and ULTRIX are trademarks of Digital -Equipment Corp. PA-RISC and HP-UX are trademarks of -Hewlett-Packard Co. OSF/1 is a trademark of the Open -Software Foundation. -</Para> +&legal; </Chapter> |