need a good database

[1richard]

Can anyone recommend a good data base to start with that contains the following fields:

last name
first and middle
Date of birth
citizenship
photo


plus I will be adding several more fields:

[flarson]

Re: need a good database

I suspect you are asking for a Database Management System (DBMS) you can use to create a database scheme including a table that contains the fields you mentioned, as well as others you will want to add. I further suspect you would like that DBMS to use SQL. You have numerous choices, most of which will show up in

apt-cache search -n sql

If you want a good quality Relational Database Management System(RDBMS), you should use postgresql, which is not only a full RDBMS but also and Object Relational Database Management System (ORDBMS). There are other choices that may be easier in some ways but using the Debian package makes postgres very easy.
I suggest

sudo aptitude install postgresql-8.3 postgresql-doc-8.3

[ukchucktown]

Re: need a good database

When it comes to open source databases I do like postgres in a production environment over mysql, but I like having mysql around for development. I prefer the mysql tools, especially SQLyog which is a lot like Toad for Oracle. Yeah, I know, it only runs under Windows, but I have VirtualBox for the few tools with no Linux equivalent I prefer.

No database is really going to have a table in it with the specific fields you desire. You need to create a schema in your database, then create the table yourself using a SQL Create Table statement. Below is an example for Oracle... Storing image data is a little more complicated. It requires a BLOB column in Oracle. Don't copy the example I provided. Check the documentation for the database you choose. You can install mysql with sudo apt-get install mysql-server. I suggest trying both.

CREATE TABLE DOC
(
DOC_ID INTEGER NOT NULL ,
DOC_TYPE VARCHAR2(200) NULL ,
DOC_NAME VARCHAR2(1000) NULL ,
DESCRIPTION VARCHAR2(4000) NULL
);

[GreyGeek]

Re: need a good database

I second ukchucktown's recommendation regarding PostgreSQL. When you get ready to install it be sure to include its front end GUI, "PgAdmin3".

Here is some help:
http://www.supriyadisw.net/2007/02/p...n-ubuntu-linux

The version of postgresql in the repository is 8.3. Here is the tutorial:
http://www.postgresql.org/docs/8.3/static/tutorial.html

[doctordruidphd]

Re: need a good database

Another option for a simple database is the openoffice.org base program. I believe it can use mysql and postgresql. Probably a lot simpler to set up. There is also kexi, but that has not yet been updated for kde-4.x.

[growled]

Re: need a good database

I second Openoffice.org Base. It's very easy to use.

[skyjacker]

Re: need a good database

I second Openoffice.org Base. It's very easy to use.

+1 on OO

[GreyGeek]

Re: need a good database

OpenOffice.Base is easy to use. It's default table format is "dbase", which is similar to the old FoxPro dbf table structure, which Microsoft bought from Ashton-Tate: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DBase

The biggest mistake rookies make when creating tables is to use a data field as an index or key field. A better solution would be to create an ID field which is a serial Integer field, that automatically increments when a new row is added to a table. Another problem they encounter is when they create several tables and then begin to relate them together to form a database. They create cyclic relationships, but cross link them. Then, the the same query produces random results, and they curse the database. It is possible to create self-referential queries but it's not a rookie task, any more than a rookie pilot would be expected to recover from stall on his first flight.

PostgreSQL is a better choice for several reasons.
First, it allows inheritance of fields from other tables, with all the power that inheritance allows -- change the parent and the children are changed automatically.

Second, it adheres to the "acid" test. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ACID

Third, it is 95%+ SQL compatible with Oracle.

PostgreSQL is under the BSD license which, to me, is its only real weakness. Had it been under the GPL it probably would be farther along in its development than it is today. Don't get me wrong, it is the BEST overall database system in the world, bar none, but had it been licensed under the GPL it would be even better than it is today. By comparison one can consider how popular Linux is compared to BSD or FreeBSD. BSD licensed software is OFTEN exploited by proprietary houses for profit WITHOUT returning any improvements of value back to the BSD software.

Case in point: Apple started the Mac OS X using code fromh FreeBSD (and other free projects) and exploited FOSS coders to create an "open" improvement called Darwin. Once the bugs were polished out of Darwin Apple took it proprietary (which the BSD allows) to create the Mac OS X, and nothing of value was returned to the FreeBSD community.

On July 25, 2006, the OpenDarwin team announced that the project was shutting down, as they felt OpenDarwin had "become a mere hosting facility for Mac OS X related projects," and that the efforts to create a standalone Darwin operating system had failed.

Few people remember that Apple also "borrowed" the Konqueror KHTML rendering engine from KDE to create Safari, the Apple Mac's web browser.

In June 2005, after some criticism from KHTML developers over lack of access to change logs, Apple moved the development source code and bug tracking of WebCore and JavaScriptCore to OpenDarwin.org. WebKit itself was also released as open source. The source code for non-renderer aspects of the browser, such as its GUI elements, remains proprietary.

Notice that Apple kept the good parts proprietary.. Which about sums up proprietary software houses and their relationship to FOSS code.


Few people realize that the TCP/IP stack in XP and previous versions of Windows were merely the BSD stack. They can verify this by looking at the BSD license, a copy of which has to be in all versions of Windows using the BSD stack. No changes or improvements in the TCP/IP stack used by Microsoft have been returned to the BSD TCP/IP stack, yet BSD coders who use Windows have to pay Microsoft a license fee to use their own code.

Proprietary software houses continue to exploit FOSS projects with little or no payback for the code they take, especially from projects licensed with BSD. Had it not been for the GPL the KHTML coders would not have been able to force Apple to release the change log.