[TYPO3-dev] the core's missing dbal/postgresql compatibility

[Martin Kutschker]

Michael Greiner schrieb:
> Hello,
> 
> Recently, I follow many links to dbal/postgresql
> compatibility related issues.
> 
> At the beginning it sounded like everything was good
> with adodb and dbal, but after one year of bitter
> experience I draw the conclusion, that this is yet not
> the case. So it was not a thought-out decision to rush
> into PostgreSQL with Typo3 a year ago. Because even
> now, many people out there struggle with missing dbal
> compatibility and this already starts with the core.

That the is not tested with DBAL is indeed a problem. But to speak
frankly QA is not the strongest point of TYPO3 development. There are no
formalized tests etc, testing of beta and RC releases are done only
haphazardly. Maybe this is a point where TYPO3 shouldn't rely on
volunteer work alone.

> Furthermore there is a lack of support among the most
> important extensions like mailformplus, tt_news or
> tt_products.

Well, this is a problem of ignorant and uninterested developers. What
can we do about it? Maybe some guidlines how to wrote proper portable
SQL statements woulp help.

> In my opinion I good choice would be to either tell
> the people that Typo3 works only well on MySQL or
> to care about the minority of PostgreSQL and other
> users by implementing full dbal compatibility.

DBAL should be working again for 4.2.x I agree. But only a few users use
DBAL and fewer of the Core devs use it. I think that besides Karsten who
has written DBAL I'm the only Core member who has ever used in
production (PostgreSQL) and done a few testings with Oracle.

This means little interest in the whole thing :-(

> This clear statement would strengthen the professional
> directionof Typo3. Right now, there is many material
> and discussion about the right database but I found
> no trustworthy direct and clear statement from the main
> developers.
> 
> Where are we going? What can we rely on? Good infor-
> mation on Typo3 and DB abstraction is missing and
> reasonable decisions therefore hard to make.
> 
> Please give this point a chance in your discussion
> and strengthen the professional use of Typo3 by
> improving dbal support in the core and/or clear
> statements on DB compatibility.

The problem is that t3lib_db is not a very good API. DBAL has to do many
workarounds to cope with that so - sadly - Mysql will always be the
first choice. But of course there is room for improvements in DBAL.
Still some useful SQL statements don't work which is partly a reason why
some extensions break on DBAL.

> Please let me know if the information from several
> tests is of any interest in this mailinglist or
> somewhere else.

Please post them here or send me an email.

> Like anyone here I care about the further development
> of Typo3, so let's give the community a document that
> helps any IT project leader in the world to decide on
> which database he runs Typo3.

You have given the answer yourself. Use Mysql unless you are forced to
chose another.

Masi