I've been struggling with the same decision for one of my projects: text-based database vs. MySQL (or PostIngres or even other more costly RDBMS'es). I've been asked to take over for another consultant who has recently become consumed by the arrangements for his daughter's Bat Mitzvah.

He chose the module JSprite, which is a standalone version of DBD::Sprite, for better or worse. This works fairly well, with each "table" being stored in its own (CSV) file, the directory containing these being nicely contained in one place.

My own concern is less about speed (which cannot begin to compete with an RDBMS) than about mutli-user access (the client claims not to expect more than 10-12 users at any given time).

JSprite uses flock() to manage contention, which, although arguably adequate for 10-12 users, is certainly insufficient for ten times that many.

Still agonizing over whether to force the issue, I'm proceeding with development using the JSprite configuration. One nice thing about the SQL syntax it supports is that it is vaguely Oracle-like in form. Once the system is running, I can replace the underlying database (if necessary) with a minimum of pain.

Not sure how helpful this was to you...

dmm

In reply to Re (2): Single file RDBMS w/o system install by dmmiller2k
in thread Single file RDBMS w/o system install by gryphon

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