From: "M. Edward (Ed) Borasky" <znmeb@...>
Date: 2007-08-18T12:09:12+09:00
Subject: Re: Filesystem Database

Yottameter wrote:
> I'd like to use a database, but my IT department won't install mysql. I
> know perl has a db interface that is stored on the filesystem. Is FSDB
> the equivalent for Ruby? Is that what people recommend using for db's
> stored on a filesystem?
> 
> Thanks!

I've seen a number of responses here, some helpful and some rather
snotty. But nobody has asked you the obvious questions. So I will:

1. Are you talking about a workstation or server?
2. If a workstation, is it Windows?
3. Is the IT reluctance to install MySQL part of an overall corporate
policy designed to protect you and your colleagues from some things that
are really nasty, like trojans, social engineering, releasing private
personal data, intellectual property law, etc.?

I work in a corporate environment, so I'm going to adopt the following
assumptions:

1. Workstation.
2. Windows.
3. Yes, it's a protective corporate policy.

In that case, you really should talk to your supervisor about what you
are trying to accomplish and whether there is a better way than either
MySQL or a "filesystem database" accessed via Ruby.

That said, I believe SQLite is a good way to do things. KirbyBase is
also popular, but I have no experience with it. For "smallish" problems,
I rather like Microsoft Access. It has a very user-friendly design
interface and it can (via ODBC) talk to just about any RDBMS. The only
problems I've ever had with it are:

1. It gets very nasty when the ".mdb" file hits the 2 GB size limit.
2. It doesn't really play well with file names containing more than one ".".
> 
>