> -----Original Message-----
> From: mlw [mailto:markw@mohawksoft.com]
> Sent: Thursday, May 09, 2002 2:41 PM
> To: Dann Corbit
> Cc: PostgreSQL-development
> Subject: Re: Issues tangential to win32 support
>
>
> Dann Corbit wrote:
> > It took a few hundred man hours to do it. I see the whole
> Win32 port as
> > a non issue. Several parties have already completed it
> (including the
> > place where I work -- CONNX Solutions Inc.). If we did not
> do it or all
> > parties who already did it were hit by a comet or something, someone
> > else would accomplish it. It isn't trivial but it isn't impossible
> > either. If a need is large enough, someone will manage it.
> The need is
> > large enough. Ergo...
> >
> > Here are some other things related:
> >
> > A ready to go Win32 PosgreSQL package:
> > http://www.dbexperts.net/postgresql
> >
> > An open source project to productize PostgreSQL for Windows
> (has gone
> > nowhere so far):
> > http://gborg.postgresql.org/project/winpackage/projdisplay.php
> >
> > A native Win32 port accomplished by a Japanese Group:
> > http://hp.vector.co.jp/authors/VA023283/PostgreSQLe.html
> > If you look under the "Gists for Patch" it contains exactly the same
> > tasks that CONNX Solutions Inc. had to accomplish in every case.
>
> These packages are based upon cygwin. Problems with cygwin:
>
> (1) GNU license issues.
> (2) Does not work well with anti-virus software
> (3) Since OS level copy-on-write is negated, process creation
> is much slower.
> (4) Since OS level copy on write is negated, memory that
> otherwise would not be
> allocated to the process is forced to ba allocated when the
> parent process data
> is copied.
Our package avoids Cygwin altogether. We wrote our own POSIX layer from
scratch, and we junked fork() for CreateProcess() {and inserted copious:
#ifdef ICKY_WIN32_KLUDGE
/* our code goes here */
#else
/* Standard UNIX code goes here */
#endif
It's complete, and it performs like the burning blue blazes. We have
run the full PostgreSQL test suite to completion with success. However,
before we release any SQL tool, we have our own test suite with tens of
thousands of tests to perform. Hence, we won't have a release until
June at the earliest.
I think the Japanese one also does not use Cygwin (but I have not tried
installing it yet).