[plug] Samba query regarding an SQL-ish d/b

[Leon Brooks]

Paul Baumgarten wrote:
> Now for some strange reason the relevant database has blown out to
> 800Mb!  When the librarian contacted the support desk he was told it
> shouldn't be larger than 80/90Mb.  That is a bit of a difference.
> Anyway... the support desk then attempted to blame our "non-standard"
> server and network setup.

Bananas. If anything, it would take _less_ space, since holey file
support doesn't happen on a FAT filesystem, but does under Unix (and
under CP/M-80, of all things).

> Now it seems a bit weird to me to blame our
> server or the network for a file being 10 times bigger than it should...
> my personal inclination is that it is because he is using a MS
> bloat-ware style of database.

I would tend to suspect a flaw in the database. The simple way to find
out is to temporarily host it on one of the Windows machines in your
office and maybe get some students to hammer the copy a bit.

If it will talk straight SQL, you should be able to back-end it with,
for example, PostGreSQL and UnixODBC. Problem solved, maybe.

-- 
Linux will not get in the door by simply mentioning it... it must win
by proving itself superior. We have no marketing department, our sales
department is an FTP server in North Carolina and our programming
department spans seven continents. Am I getting through? -- Signal11
(/.)