Re: [Gnumed-devel] Re: Which distributions (distros) of Linux are recommended for GnuMed?

[Karsten Hilbert]

> I have proposed it in the past, and I propose it herewith again:
> 
> 1.) we agree on a "baseline" database version (SQL scripts) = 1.0
OK, sounds good

> 2.) ALL changes to the database from 1.0 onwards are solely extensions to 
> that 
> 1.0 script ("diff scripts"),
it is not feasible to speak of *that* 1.0 script

> and will not break backwards compatibility nor 
> alter any existing data
> (example: allowed are "create table", "update table" (only for adding / 
> extending rows or constraints or defaults), "create index", "grant" ... but 
> never things like "drop table".
we still need to know what to do about those changes that
can't be done with non-destructive DDL commands

IMO one would a) define a baseline 1.0 version, b) use that
for installation of user-oriented packages, c) evolve the CVS
version as we do know, d) provide data migration scripts from
1.0 to 2.0 when 2.0 is "released" for user-oriented packages
to use. This is a fairly complex task which I don't have time
to handle, currently.

> 3.) a gnumed_db_update script fetches all diff scripts from gnumed.net and 
> installs them.
I fear that is too simplistic/optimistic a few.

> That takes the pain out of testing user interfaces with our rapidly evolving 
> backend and allows preserving data without risks.
Obviously, installations for testing and real data would be in
different databases, preferably on different machines. Testing
would be via cvs update && bootstrap && gm-from-cvs.sh while
real data would be handled carefully by a knowledgeable DBA
(who would, btw, be capable of data migration even without our
helping).

Karsten
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