Database Reference
In-Depth Information
Summary
Wow, this has been a long hard road to getting an extension configured and installed.
We have used programming skills, system administrative skills, database administrat-
ive skills, and wiki editing. Along the way we saw some ruby, python, shell scripting,
PL/pgSQL, and MediaWiki.
Believe it or not, this is the simplified process. Hard to imagine, eh? Well, continuous
work is being done on the PostgreSQL Extension Network to further simplify this cata-
strophe of a development system. My thanks go out to David E. Wheeler and crew for
making this new system available. As the framework now exists to help with the task,
there will be dramatic improvement coming in the months and years ahead.
Now that I'm done complaining about it, this extension system is actually revolution-
ary. I say this because no other database platform provides any such framework at all.
PostgreSQL is at the head of the pack when it comes to the ability to make changes
to the basic functionality of the product. The fact that extensions can be installed and
removed from the product is an indicator of how inviting PostgreSQL is to the open
source community.
Extend it to do whatever you want, and they'll give you the tools to do it. This makes
a PostgreSQL server the perfect framework to use for your data processing needs.