5 ms·

It looks nice for beginners but personally I find that a simple docker-compose file per project that spins up a postgresql container works pretty nicely and is

by harg 5y ago

It looks nice for beginners but personally I find that a simple docker-compose file per project that spins up a postgresql container works pretty nicely and is really easy to use. I just run `docker-compose up -d` and I have a database running. Docker containers also stay out of the way of the os and I can run the right versions for whichever project.

mosselman 5y ago
> beginners Why is this for beginners? Because it is so easy to use? I guess I am a beginner then. > works pretty nicely Postgres.app works perfectly and is very minimal in system requirements vs having docker running and the amount of storage it requires.
- nicoburns 5y ago
  How good is the upgrade story? That's typically the achilles heel of GUI installers (vs. installing using homebrew).
  - capableweb 5y ago
    In my limited experience (no longer using macOS after ~6 years on the platform), homebrew upgrades was broken more often than upgrades provided by GUI applications. I specifically remember a particular postgres upgrade via homebrew went wrong and I had to basically erase all traces of postgres before re-installing again in order to get it to work. On the other hand, I can remember zero times a GUI upgrade went wrong.
  - emrex 5y ago
    I have been using it for 2 yesrs now. Did not have any problem upgrading changing the version etc. Homebrew breaks things often. The App just works I never have to care about it.
  - nightpool 5y ago
    I've had the exact opposite experience with Homebrew vs GUI installers. Postgres.app has never had any issues, while Homebrew postgres breaks every time I run `brew update`, because of the way homebrew handles icu4 library dependencies.
DelightOne 5y ago
Makes you able to automatically run initialization scripts too.
willvarfar 5y ago
(Be on top of security; this was recently on HN https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=27613217 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=27613217)
aoms 5y ago
I do this too, much easier
dagw 5y ago
I think you and this app are solving quite different problems. For you (and most people replying) it sounds like PostgreSQL is a component in a larger app that will eventually get deployed and run somewhere else and only be interacted with via that app. Others (like myself) use PostgreSQL as a local datastore and analysis engine. All my interaction with the database is via ad hoc SQL commands and locally run scripts and desktop applications. For this usecase, something like this is much easier to use than docker compose.
- smt88 5y ago
  > I think you and this app are solving quite different problems. No, they're not. You both just want a Postgres instance you can access locally. The major difference is that Postgres.app does not seem to do a good job of separating different databases. > All my interaction with the database is via ad hoc SQL commands and locally run scripts and desktop applications. You can do this with DBs built by Docker as well, with the added benefit that you can erase and rebuild them whenever you want, and they're separated by project.
- ianai 5y ago
  What’s your use case? (Whatever you’re comfortable sharing.)
  - dagw 5y ago
    'small'[1] data analysis often with a geospatial component. [1] ie data easily fits on a single hard drive.
  - kleinsch 5y ago
    I set up postgres.app for my wife, who's a PM. She used it to crunch data that was too big for Excel, her previous tool of choice.
    - easton 5y ago
      I'm curious, why postgres.app and not SQLite? I'd usually reach for SQLite as my next step up from Excel, but maybe that's wrong (it's very possible that you're talking about an order of magnitude more data than I am).

by harg 5y ago

mosselman 5y ago

> beginners Why is this for beginners? Because it is so easy to use? I guess I am a beginner then. > works pretty nicely Postgres.app works perfectly and is very minimal in system requirements vs having docker running and the amount of storage it requires.

nicoburns 5y ago
How good is the upgrade story? That's typically the achilles heel of GUI installers (vs. installing using homebrew).
- capableweb 5y ago
  In my limited experience (no longer using macOS after ~6 years on the platform), homebrew upgrades was broken more often than upgrades provided by GUI applications. I specifically remember a particular postgres upgrade via homebrew went wrong and I had to basically erase all traces of postgres before re-installing again in order to get it to work. On the other hand, I can remember zero times a GUI upgrade went wrong.
- emrex 5y ago
  I have been using it for 2 yesrs now. Did not have any problem upgrading changing the version etc. Homebrew breaks things often. The App just works I never have to care about it.
- nightpool 5y ago
  I've had the exact opposite experience with Homebrew vs GUI installers. Postgres.app has never had any issues, while Homebrew postgres breaks every time I run `brew update`, because of the way homebrew handles icu4 library dependencies.

DelightOne 5y ago

Makes you able to automatically run initialization scripts too.

willvarfar 5y ago

(Be on top of security; this was recently on HN https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=27613217 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=27613217)

aoms 5y ago

I do this too, much easier

dagw 5y ago

I think you and this app are solving quite different problems. For you (and most people replying) it sounds like PostgreSQL is a component in a larger app that will eventually get deployed and run somewhere else and only be interacted with via that app. Others (like myself) use PostgreSQL as a local datastore and analysis engine. All my interaction with the database is via ad hoc SQL commands and locally run scripts and desktop applications. For this usecase, something like this is much easier to use than docker compose.

smt88 5y ago
> I think you and this app are solving quite different problems. No, they're not. You both just want a Postgres instance you can access locally. The major difference is that Postgres.app does not seem to do a good job of separating different databases. > All my interaction with the database is via ad hoc SQL commands and locally run scripts and desktop applications. You can do this with DBs built by Docker as well, with the added benefit that you can erase and rebuild them whenever you want, and they're separated by project.
ianai 5y ago
What’s your use case? (Whatever you’re comfortable sharing.)
- dagw 5y ago
  'small'[1] data analysis often with a geospatial component. [1] ie data easily fits on a single hard drive.
- kleinsch 5y ago
  I set up postgres.app for my wife, who's a PM. She used it to crunch data that was too big for Excel, her previous tool of choice.
  - easton 5y ago
    I'm curious, why postgres.app and not SQLite? I'd usually reach for SQLite as my next step up from Excel, but maybe that's wrong (it's very possible that you're talking about an order of magnitude more data than I am).