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Sqlite has been battletested for years. I utterly fail to see the point in reimplementing it in some other language. Innovate in databases - yes please - but

by fsloth 5y ago

Sqlite has been battletested for years. I utterly fail to see the point in reimplementing it in some other language. Innovate in databases - yes please - but "rewrite" - why? Not being able to use battletested libraries written in plain C (e.g. sqlite) sounds like a hugh mark against rust as a systems programming language. Is using C libraries an actual issue or just an aesthetic grumble?

simlevesque 5y ago
> battletested Is software that is always evolving battletested ? A new version could break something. I'm aware that sqlite has one of the best test suite in all of open source, I just wonder if something that was "battletested" is still battletested after a new release.
- lukevp 5y ago
  I guess we can’t speak about battle testing in a new release from a “running in production with real user workloads” but if the test suite is properly implemented and has good coverage and exercises many cases and failure modes, it’s possible that a SQLite release is more battle tested on day zero than other software is when it’s been running for months or years. What do you think? A new version presumably still runs through validation before release.
- ithkuil 5y ago
  Here's where the asymmetry of security bugs and feature bugs comes into play. Introducing a buffer overflow in a small unused corner / edge case of the feature set allows an attacker to fully compromise the process, and it's thus a problem affecting a 100% of the users. Introducing a behavioral bug in the same unused corner / edge case, will affect only a very small number if people (possibly none)
- jasonwatkinspdx 5y ago
  Freezing the software is no assurance of security either. I'll take ongoing maintenance of the quality of sqlite every time personally.
- deleted 5y ago
  [deleted]
- mirekrusin 5y ago
  sqlite is known for its massive test coverage with 600x+ test to source ratio [0]. [0] https://www.sqlite.org/testing.html https://www.sqlite.org/testing.html
pas 5y ago
Maintainability? Performance? Tighter integration into Rust projects? Also, with using SQLite's amazing test harness, it might even make sense to claim that the Rust re-implementation is of similar quality in terms of (lack of) bugs.
- zie 5y ago
  only some of the test harness is open source, see: https://sqlite.org/testing.html https://sqlite.org/testing.html
mamcx 5y ago
Sqlite is probably the one C project I totally trust. But, yeah, "cloning" projects is losing proposition (even more if open source). I wish a sqlite-like on rust? yeah, but not a clone, but in spirit (exist so much we can improve with rdbms!)
erik_seaberg 5y ago
If the rewrite is distributed over a quorum and columns are strongly-typed, I’m happy to see it.

by fsloth 5y ago

simlevesque 5y ago

> battletested Is software that is always evolving battletested ? A new version could break something. I'm aware that sqlite has one of the best test suite in all of open source, I just wonder if something that was "battletested" is still battletested after a new release.

lukevp 5y ago
I guess we can’t speak about battle testing in a new release from a “running in production with real user workloads” but if the test suite is properly implemented and has good coverage and exercises many cases and failure modes, it’s possible that a SQLite release is more battle tested on day zero than other software is when it’s been running for months or years. What do you think? A new version presumably still runs through validation before release.
ithkuil 5y ago
Here's where the asymmetry of security bugs and feature bugs comes into play. Introducing a buffer overflow in a small unused corner / edge case of the feature set allows an attacker to fully compromise the process, and it's thus a problem affecting a 100% of the users. Introducing a behavioral bug in the same unused corner / edge case, will affect only a very small number if people (possibly none)
jasonwatkinspdx 5y ago
Freezing the software is no assurance of security either. I'll take ongoing maintenance of the quality of sqlite every time personally.
deleted 5y ago
[deleted]
mirekrusin 5y ago
sqlite is known for its massive test coverage with 600x+ test to source ratio [0]. [0] https://www.sqlite.org/testing.html https://www.sqlite.org/testing.html

pas 5y ago

Maintainability? Performance? Tighter integration into Rust projects? Also, with using SQLite's amazing test harness, it might even make sense to claim that the Rust re-implementation is of similar quality in terms of (lack of) bugs.

zie 5y ago
only some of the test harness is open source, see: https://sqlite.org/testing.html https://sqlite.org/testing.html

mamcx 5y ago

Sqlite is probably the one C project I totally trust. But, yeah, "cloning" projects is losing proposition (even more if open source). I wish a sqlite-like on rust? yeah, but not a clone, but in spirit (exist so much we can improve with rdbms!)

erik_seaberg 5y ago

If the rewrite is distributed over a quorum and columns are strongly-typed, I’m happy to see it.