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I know that SQLite performs exceptionally on embedded devices including most phones, IoT devices, and more. However, for better or worse, it's a flat file. Does

by wyc 9y ago

I know that SQLite performs exceptionally on embedded devices including most phones, IoT devices, and more. However, for better or worse, it's a flat file. Does anyone know of a TCP/IP-speaking SQL database that would work well on an embedded device? PostgreSQL/MariaDB seem kinda heavy, and the net couplers for SQLite look pretty unsupported.

dragonwriter 9y ago
> However, for better or worse, it's a flat file. No, it's not. It's a file, but it's not flat.
- wyc 9y ago
  You are technically correct. The best kind of correct!
  - peterwwillis 9y ago
    They were not technically correct, they were just correct. A flat file database is a file with no indexing structure, usually plaintext, usually one record per line. SQLite uses a binary format consisting of an index of pages and a rollback journal or log file. They are significantly different. Also, yes, there are networked databases with sqlite database drivers.
qznc 9y ago
Use sqlite and send SQL queries and answers over the network.
- AstralStorm 9y ago
  Or you can switch to the big daddy Postgres or Oracle. They will generally accept SQL that SQLite accepts with few modifications.
elcritch 9y ago
ActorDB could get you there, it's a distributed DB based on SQLite [1]. [1]: http://www.actordb.com http://www.actordb.com
Quarrelsome 9y ago
and what exactly do you think any database is at the end of the day? It's not magic, it all ends up on the disk as a file. I mean why is a page file called a FILE?
- Chris2048 9y ago
  Some dbs (innodb?) support raw block/partition access
- wyc 9y ago
  Sure, we can agree that (almost) everything's a file. However, through their related programs and daemons, we can ask files for more useful functionality such as indexes, versioning, and yes, socket communications.
programd 9y ago
MySQL/MariaDB can be tuned to run very well on low resource devices. Remember that they were originally developed back in the days of 486 CPUs. A couple of years ago I had MySQL backing a commercial product on a 512M ARM7 5400RPM device (we originally developed it with 256M of memory). Performance was not an issue for our use case even with on the order of a million rows in the DB.

by wyc 9y ago

dragonwriter 9y ago

> However, for better or worse, it's a flat file. No, it's not. It's a file, but it's not flat.

wyc 9y ago
You are technically correct. The best kind of correct!
- peterwwillis 9y ago
  They were not technically correct, they were just correct. A flat file database is a file with no indexing structure, usually plaintext, usually one record per line. SQLite uses a binary format consisting of an index of pages and a rollback journal or log file. They are significantly different. Also, yes, there are networked databases with sqlite database drivers.

qznc 9y ago

Use sqlite and send SQL queries and answers over the network.

AstralStorm 9y ago
Or you can switch to the big daddy Postgres or Oracle. They will generally accept SQL that SQLite accepts with few modifications.

elcritch 9y ago

ActorDB could get you there, it's a distributed DB based on SQLite [1]. [1]: http://www.actordb.com http://www.actordb.com

Quarrelsome 9y ago

and what exactly do you think any database is at the end of the day? It's not magic, it all ends up on the disk as a file. I mean why is a page file called a FILE?

Chris2048 9y ago
Some dbs (innodb?) support raw block/partition access
wyc 9y ago
Sure, we can agree that (almost) everything's a file. However, through their related programs and daemons, we can ask files for more useful functionality such as indexes, versioning, and yes, socket communications.

programd 9y ago

MySQL/MariaDB can be tuned to run very well on low resource devices. Remember that they were originally developed back in the days of 486 CPUs. A couple of years ago I had MySQL backing a commercial product on a 512M ARM7 5400RPM device (we originally developed it with 256M of memory). Performance was not an issue for our use case even with on the order of a million rows in the DB.