NYCPHP Meetup

[Adam Maccabee Trachtenberg]

On Sat, 24 Jul 2004, Joe Crawford wrote:

> so if i was going to develop a 3rd party script i should use sqlite
> since i cannot gurantee the end user will have access to mysql, although
> all hosts i have seen offer mysql, i guess sqlite is only good when you
> dont do much writing to the database and only reading, in that case i
> will stick with mysql for most of my projects ;)

Alternatively, you could use PEAR DB or a similar abstraction
layer. Daniel took over ownership of PEAR DB so his product could
reliably use whatever database his customers were using, whether it
was MySQL, Oracle, or whatever.

Also note that SQLite should be available on every PHP 5
installation. The library is bundled with PHP 5 and the extension is
enabled by default, so you need to go out of your way to not have
it. :)

In response to Hans's reply, I generally agree with most of what he
said. However, my one minor nit-pick is that as long as your traffic
is read-only (or largely reads, with occasional writes), SQLite may be
a better choice regardless of your traffic volume.

For instance, php.net uses SQLite to power the "Notes" section of the
PHP Manual. I would say php.net probably has more traffic than your
usual Web site. Additionally, SQLite 3.0 (now in beta) should be even
better in this regard as it reduces its locking window during
writes. (According to the SQLite Web site; I haven't actually run
SQLite 3.0 personally.)

Also, as I said earlier, you can bundle SQLite with a product without
paying any fees. While I know MySQL, AB now has a FOSS exemption to
its GPL license, I don't believe you can sell a commercial application
that uses MySQL 4.1 or greater as its backend without buying a
commercial license from MySQL, AB.

Actually, I think the issue is somewhat vague, as the current position
seems to depend on whether MySQL is an integral part of your
application.

I'm sure if I am wrong, Hans (or Zak) will correct me. I'm not trying
to spread any FUD here, but I want to let people know that there have
been some licensing changes in newer versions of MySQL that could
affect them and it's something they need to consider.

-adam

-- 
adam at trachtenberg.com
author of o'reilly's "upgrading to php 5" and "php cookbook"
avoid the holiday rush, buy your copies today!