From: James Gray <james@...>
Date: 2009-06-24T07:04:46+09:00
Subject: [ruby-core:23998] Re: [ANN] meeting log of RubyDeveloperKaigi20090622

On Jun 23, 2009, at 4:19 PM, Jeremy Kemper wrote:

> On Tue, Jun 23, 2009 at 2:30 PM, Joel VanderWerf<vjoel@path.berkeley.edu 
> > wrote:
>> James Gray wrote:
>>>
>>> Amalgalite has a lot of things going for it:
>>
>> + RTree support compiled in (not a default for sqlite)
>>
>> + Jeremy Evans added an amalgalite adapter to sequel (though it is
>> apparently not yet as fast as the sqlite adapter)
>
> Amalgalite is great, but it does *embed* SQLite in Ruby. So when you
> upgrade Ruby, you're also upgrading SQLite. What if we embedded other
> libraries we offer bindings for? I think it's a practice to be
> discouraged.

Obviously, there are plusses and minuses to both sides.  I don't want  
to get into a huge debate.  However, I do think we should at least  
list some of the advantages for going embedded, since we've listed the  
minuses.

I have a big SQLite project and I had nothing but trouble when we used  
an extension that dynamically linked to the library.  I frequently  
used SQL functions that were only in certain versions thus my code  
would work fine on some boxes, but not others.  Also, it would be  
super hard to reliably support features like the discussed hot backups  
because those require very current versions.

I just think it's really great to know if Amalgalite compiles, you  
know it works (bugs excepted, of course) and you know exactly what it  
can do.

> Also, in general, I prefer to see stdlib shrink instead of grow.
> Bundling with Ruby is a good way to retard independent library
> development.

I think deciding to ship a simple database with Ruby is excellent.   
Rails uses SQLite by default and how great would it be for new users  
to have reasonably high chances that just works?  Also, it's great to  
know you can count on having a decent database for any Ruby  
application.  I feel it's a really big win.

We're also nowhere near the first language to include a database in  
the standard library, or even SQLite specifically.

Anyway, I've given my opinions.  They are just that and I really don't  
wish to fight.  I'll be quiet now, Scout's honor.

James Edward Gray II