Re: Adding PGInstaller to the Downloads section

On Tue, Aug 28, 2018 at 1:01 PM, Dave Page <dpage@pgadmin.org> wrote:

Hi

Thanks, Dave, for picking that one up. I had it on my list to deal with but it somehow slipped out of my inbox.

On Tue, Aug 21, 2018 at 5:57 PM, Umair Shahid <umair.shahid@2ndquadrant.com> wrote:

Hi, 

Please find attached a patch to add PGInstaller to the Downloads section of postgresql.org. 

PGInstaller offers an easy way to install PostgreSQL. We have found this to be crucial to our customers who are used to GUI-based, click-n-point installers on Windows and at times on macOS. PGInstaller has evolved from 2UDA, a package that 2ndQuadrant has been working on for more than 3 years. 

2ndQuadrant is committed to developing and actively maintaining PGInstaller for PostgreSQL versions 9.5 and above. We have been releasing, and will continue to release, updates in sync with the PostgreSQL community, most recently announcing the minor release on 9-Aug. PGInstaller has also kept up with the Beta releases for PostgreSQL 11. 

The first issue that I can see (or more correctly, not see), is the source code. All packages on these pages need to be 100% Open Source, including the code required to build the packages themselves (but not necessarily the tools/compilers of course). Where can the code be found?

In fact, I'd like to take this opportunity to suggest another restructure. (which I've been thinking about for a while, but this makes it more current)

I think for the distribution specific ones, we should really only keep the community provided or recommended ones. That means on debian/ubuntu pages we keep only apt.pg.org and "included in distro". For redhat/ubuntu we keep only yum.pg.org and "included in distro". That goes for all the platforms that we have clear recommendations on.

The other installers, including this new one from 2ndquadrant, gets moved to "3rd party distributions" on https://www.postgresql.org/download/, which may now possibly need a sub-page with all of them on. (Incidentally, this is where 2UDA already is).

The remaining question then becomes Windows and Mac. My personal view is keep the EDB installer on the Windows one, but consider keeping postgres.app instead on Mac (along with references to things like homebrew) as that seems to resonate with what people actually want on that platform. But I'm not a Mac user myself, so somebody who is might have an argument for keeping others there instead.

The idea ehind ghit is, of course, to simplify things for our users. Right now we quite honestly provide more options than they need. It's good to have those, but it's also good to have a very straight forward path for those who don't have any non-standard needs. Each page can be given a "there are also a number of third party options available, <click here> to see them".

Finally; "PGInstaller" is the name used by the original Windows packaging that Magnus and I used to maintain (http://pgfoundry.org/projects/pginstaller/). I for one would appreciate it if you didn't use that name, but came up with something original.

+1. (And for the record, I still get mailman spam for pginstaller now and then :P So while we may think it's dead, it's definitely playing zombie now and then) 

--

 Magnus Hagander
 Me: https://www.hagander.net/
 Work: https://www.redpill-linpro.com/