[R-sig-DB] Postgresql Options for Mac OS X

[Dirk Eddelbuettel]

Neil,

On 12 May 2009 at 06:09, Prof Brian Ripley wrote:
| On Mon, 11 May 2009, Neil Tiffin wrote:
| 
| > In trying to figure out how the best way to access a postgresql database from 
| > R on Mac OS X. Currently my database has 88 million rows (9 GB) and is 
| > growing so I am looking for a stable interface.  The following options seem 
| > to be available:
| >
| > 1. RdbiPgSQL_1.18.1
| > 2. RPostgreSQL_0.1-4
| > 3. TSPostgreSQL_2009.3-2
| 
| You have omitted RODBC, since PostgreSQL has a mature ODBC driver.

Yes. I packaged it for Debian more than six years ago, and have supported it
ever since, precisely because I wanted to talk to Pg on my systems. RODBC is
stable and mature --- thanks to a lot of work by Brian Ripley (building on
the earlier work by Michael Lapsley).

That said, I also find ODBC and its setup mechanism with DSNs etc somewhat
tedious and quite frankly like the DBI interface better.  Which is why I
suggested and mentored the DBI-compliant RPostgreSQL implementation as a
Google Summer of Code project last year.  People seem to use and like it, and
you remove one layer of possible breakage. The DBI abstraction also allows
you to switch to other backends should the need arise.

So you have choices, which is a good thing.

| Have you looked at the failures?  RPostgreSQL failed to install 
| because the build machine does not have PostgreSQL installed.

IIRC at least the CRAN Linux testing boxen (being Debian) have it.  And
Sameer and I also worked with Uwe last year to get Windows builds.  So yes,
the builds fails _on Mac OS X only_ --- presumably because nobody volunteered
to provide Pg for the build machine.  Maybe Neil can help here....

Dirk

-- 
Three out of two people have difficulties with fractions.