Path: utzoo!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!rutgers!tut.cis.ohio-state.edu!att!mtuxo!mtgzy!mtgzz!davis
From: davis@mtgzz.att.com (p.a.davis)
Newsgroups: comp.software-eng
Subject: Re: Source Code Control
Message-ID: <5225@mtgzz.att.com>
Date: 7 Jul 89 13:30:09 GMT
Reply-To: davis@mtgzz.att.com
Organization: AT&T Integrated Systems, Middletown, NJ
Lines: 38

In article <1052@aber-cs.UUCP> pcg@cs.aber.ac.uk (Piercarlo Grandi) writes:

>Conversely, at least in principle, it would be much more interesting to use
>a true DBMS, e.g. Ingres, as a substitute for a file system, rather than
>viceversa (e.g.  to store all the mass of unruly info currently contained in
>UNIX ad hoc "databases" like /etc/passwd, /usr/lib/sendmail.cf, etc...), or
>even for pathname resolution.

Oh it would, would it ? And to forever have such information bound up
in as part of some highly complex, obscure, binary-oriented system,
in which there is very little access to the information unless you go
in through the specified channels ?

Give us a break - the proliferation of ridiculous systems like Ingres,
Dbase and Oracle is one of the most worrying on the computing horizon.
Extending their reach into SW engineering and system admin could turn
into the worst nightmare ever. 

If we have to have RDMS on Unix, lets stick to those that adhere to
the philosophy of the whole system (such as /rdb) and forget
cryto-DB's. (By which I mean ASCII files in simple filterable format).

>	* 4GL interfaces

From "Relational Databases under Unix" (or some such book by the
author of /rdb)...

	* the Unix shell (s) - the best 4GL yet invented

Remember: build a system a fool could use, and only a fool will want
to.


-- 
Internet: davis@mtgzz.att.com   1930 Green St., PA 19130 (215-981-0614)
uucp: ...!att!mtgzz!davis	@ AT&T Integrated Systems Division, NJ

"All the above opinions are my own, which may or may not increase their value."