[Perfparse-devel] Re: postgresql module

[Yves M. <yme...@li...>]

> Hey,
>
> Now me being quite ignorant about C stuff, but aren't there really any
> libraries or whatever that we could use to make this database thing mor=
e
> abstract? I'm perl programmer and I know there's plethora of different
> sql abstraction layers made in perl, which make is easy to use same cod=
e
> for different databases (my latest and favourite finding is Class::DBI)=
.
>
> Maybe it would be nice to get rid (I mean not to make at all) those
> different db storage modules and have one general module, which uses
> some smart lib to talk to SQL with whichever server.

The main problem is speed. Will the generic db storage module be fast eno=
ugh ? You need
to code it to see by yourself. I have no idea. :)
About db storage modules, we only have one : mysql :)
All other storage modules are different, and besides sql, there will prob=
ably be file,
socket, xml, rrd. Our modules are already an abstraction layer :)

>
> I found this: http://libdbi.sourceforge.net/

Somebody has already talked about libdbi. That was for Oracle. But perfpa=
rse uses too
many specificities of mysql. So he did not start. That was before the mod=
ules
implementation.
Moreover, libdbi does not seem to be very active, and not very used.

> and this: http://siag.nu/libsdb/

http://freshmeat.net/projects/libsdb/?branch_id=3D15175

Looks that the author worked on it recently (6 months ago).
It is used in siag office, but is siag office still alive ? What about th=
e other projects ?

The more important, if you make a module that use such a library, is to b=
e sure that if
you find a bug, it will be fixed soon and a new release will follow.

Now, such a library can be used, and one day, stop being maintained. That=
 day, you have
to recode your software without it. That's why I like modules. If one day=
 some lib is
not supported any more, just work on the module, not on all the project c=
ode !

> And ODBC??

Just do it :)

Well, you want to code a module, not to reimplement anything in perfparse=
. So just do
it, and then we see how it works. 1 month ago, it would have been very di=
fferent because
if working on perfparse to support another database had failed, we would =
have been
forced to go back to 0.100.7.
Today, whatever the version of perfparse is, when your module is ready, w=
e try it and if
it works, we include it to perfparse. And any change in perfparse has no =
impact on your
module.
So just do it :)


Now, an answer to Ben about some ideas about the CGIs.
I think that the code to produce graphs and statistics should be in a lib=
rary, using
some modules too. Modules because with them, you can read the data from e=
verywhere :
just plug the right module !
Who would use such libraries ?
- the CGIs of course
- some command-line tools. I would like some tool that get some data from=
 the base and
compute some file that my boss could read without any SQL knowledge.
- some Perl or PHP modules (or other languages if any)

I'm also asking myself if C is the best language to get data from the dat=
abase and
generate documents with statistics. Aren't there other tools that you can=
 give them the
numbers and they tell you the statistics you need ?

For the graphs, however, I consider that C is good because you always do =
the same : get
data between 2 dates, optionnaly compute the scale and limits, and draw. =
Result is a
file, or some CGI compatible output.

Well, I know my needs : get the data and generate graphs. What are your n=
eeds ?

Yves
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