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Re: Database written in PHP

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On 10/24/2015 6:37 AM, James Harris wrote:
> On 23/10/2015 23:04, Jerry Stuckle wrote:
>> On 10/23/2015 5:25 PM, James Harris wrote:
>>> Are there any lightweight databases written in PHP?
>>>
>>> I don't mean PHP code to access a database like MySQL or similar. I am
>>> thinking of the data being stored in a flat file or files and there
>>> being some PHP code to provide database-like read-write access to the
>>> data. It does not need to be SQL-based as long as it has reasonable data
>>> access primitives.
>>>
>>> Maybe there are a few of these but web searches tend to pull up lots of
>>> info on how to access a database from within PHP which is a different,
>>> and far more common, topic. Hence, this query.
> 
> ...
> 
>> I haven't heard of any general purpose databases like you describe, nor
>> would I expect to.  Anything like that is typically application
>> dependent.  A general purpose database in PHP would be pretty slow.
> 
> Maybe not for small datasets, if the comments against the packages that
> J O Aho pointed to are anything to go by.
> 
>> What is the problem you're trying to solve?
> 
> No one specific but it occurred to me that a file-based database would
> have some advantages:
> 
>   wouldn't require a full (heavyweight) database implementation
>   wouldn't depend on a hosting provider providing one
>   wouldn't be affected by query rate limiting
>   could have own security model
>   could have own data-naming model
>   would, for me, make site replication easier
> 
> To explain that last point, I have a neat solution to push updates from
> a private server to a public site but I have to apply database updates
> separately. It would be more convenient to do all as file pushes.
> 
> Re. the security model, I have one very good provider from which I get
> all the facilities I want BUT they require the database password to be
> the one I log in with. So I have to leave that password stored on the
> server somewhere - which I don't like doing for security reasons.
> 
> Re. the query rate limiting, some hosting services provide everything
> free but in the small print they say that if your site issues too many
> database queries per unit time then you will be out of terms of the free
> service. As I cannot control how often the pages are accessed that
> limitation is a concern.
> 
> Things like that.
> 
> James
> 

Not all database engines are heavyweight.  But those that are are that
for a reason.  Making a reliable database engine is not a minor matter.
 I looked at the ones J.O. pointed out, and I see nothing that will
prevent data corruption by such things as concurrent updates from
multiple applications.  Now maybe that's not important to you, but it is
to anyone who cares about their site it should be.  Plus, I still don't
see any performance comparisons for them - but they are going to be much
slower than any SQL database written in a compiled language.

As for your hosting provider not providing one - a total red herring.
You have to depend on the hosting provider for a lot of things - the web
server, PHP and other things.  Plus, every hosting provider has a SQL
engine nowadays - MySQL is the most common.

And I don't know of anyone who limits query rates - at least not amongst
the non-free companies.  And the query rate of your PHP database is
probably going to be slower than that set by even the free hosting
companies.  Plus, if you do have a hosting company who limits the query
rate, it's going to be to limit the load on the server - and your PHP
database is going to load the server more than a real database engine does.

Is the security model important?  Do these even have a security model?
If you are concerned about security, you should be looking for an engine
which stores the data outside of user space where it's safe; if you can
access the files themselves, then others potentially can, also.

But now we get down to the real reason - you think it will make your
replication easier.  Replicating a database is not hard; on my sites I
do it automatically once a day for backup.  It's a one line command for
each database (I could back up all of them in one line but restoring a
single database would be harder).  And if I have to restore a database,
again, one line.  Not hard at all.

-- 
==================
Remove the "x" from my email address
Jerry Stuckle
jstucklex@attglobal.net
==================

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Thread

Database written in PHP James Harris <james.harris.1@gmail.com> - 2015-10-23 22:25 +0100
  Re: Database written in PHP Jerry Stuckle <jstucklex@attglobal.net> - 2015-10-23 18:04 -0400
    Re: Database written in PHP James Harris <james.harris.1@gmail.com> - 2015-10-24 11:37 +0100
      Re: Database written in PHP Jerry Stuckle <jstucklex@attglobal.net> - 2015-10-24 10:58 -0400
        Re: Database written in PHP James Harris <james.harris.1@gmail.com> - 2015-10-24 17:07 +0100
          Re: Database written in PHP Jerry Stuckle <jstucklex@attglobal.net> - 2015-10-24 15:12 -0400
        Re: Database written in PHP "J.O. Aho" <user@example.net> - 2015-10-24 19:15 +0200
  Re: Database written in PHP Tim Streater <timstreater@greenbee.net> - 2015-10-23 23:14 +0100
    Re: Database written in PHP Jerry Stuckle <jstucklex@attglobal.net> - 2015-10-23 18:40 -0400
      Re: Database written in PHP Tim Streater <timstreater@greenbee.net> - 2015-10-24 10:30 +0100
        Re: Database written in PHP James Harris <james.harris.1@gmail.com> - 2015-10-24 11:41 +0100
          Re: Database written in PHP Tim Streater <timstreater@greenbee.net> - 2015-10-24 11:47 +0100
            Re: Database written in PHP Erwin Moller <erwinmollerusenet@xs4all.nl> - 2015-10-30 11:26 +0100
              Re: Database written in PHP Tim Streater <timstreater@greenbee.net> - 2015-10-30 10:42 +0000
  Re: Database written in PHP "J.O. Aho" <user@example.net> - 2015-10-24 09:21 +0200
    Re: Database written in PHP James Harris <james.harris.1@gmail.com> - 2015-10-24 11:23 +0100
      Re: Database written in PHP "J.O. Aho" <user@example.net> - 2015-10-24 14:35 +0200
        Re: Database written in PHP Erwin Moller <erwinmollerusenet@xs4all.nl> - 2015-10-29 17:05 +0100
          Re: Database written in PHP Matthew Carter <m@ahungry.com> - 2015-10-29 21:46 -0400
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      Re: Database written in PHP Arno Welzel <usenet@arnowelzel.de> - 2020-04-02 17:00 +0200
        Re: Database written in PHP minajaich@gmail.com - 2020-04-14 22:44 -0700
        Re: Database written in PHP "J.O. Aho" <user@example.net> - 2020-04-15 08:04 +0200
          Re: Database written in PHP minajaich@gmail.com - 2020-04-15 00:35 -0700
            Re: Database written in PHP "J.O. Aho" <user@example.net> - 2020-04-15 13:14 +0200
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