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Author: bmomjian

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@@ -578,3 +578,65 @@ Myron Scott
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+From [email protected] Thu Jun 28 11:14:10 2001
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+From: Lamar Owen <[email protected]>
+To: Bruce Momjian <[email protected]>
+Subject: Process weight (was:Re: [GENERAL] Re: Red Hat to support PostgreSQL)
+Date: Thu, 28 Jun 2001 11:14:09 -0400
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+Status: ORr
+
+On Wednesday 27 June 2001 18:58, Bruce Momjian wrote:
+> > I had almost given up on using Postgres for this system because under
+> > Solaris, it just couldn't cut it (MySQL could do the work with one CPU
+> > while Postgres took up even more CPU and required *both* CPUs to be
+> > enabled), but when we moved the system to a Linux box, things worked
+> > much better.
+
+> Ah, back to a PostgreSQL topic.  :-)
+
+> My guess on this one is that Solaris is slower for PostgreSQL because
+> process switching is _much_ heavier on Solaris than other OS's.  This is
+> because of the way they implemented processes in SVr4.  They got quite
+> heavy, almost requiring kernel threads so you weren't switching
+> processes all the time.
+
+Now, the question of the week:
+Is supporting a thread model for an inefficient OS a desirable thing to do, 
+when more efficient OS kernels are available such as FreeBSD 4.x and Linux 
+2.4?  My opinion is that our existing model, when used with a 
+connection-pooling frontend, is rather efficient.  (Yes, I use a 
+connection-pooling frontend.  Performance is rather nice, and I don't have to 
+have a full backend spawned for every page hit.)
+
+In fact, on a Linux box threads show as processes.  While I know that the 
+kernel actually supports themin a slightly different manner than processes, 
+they have more similarities than differences.
+
+However, even on OS's where threads are supported, the mechanism to support 
+those threads must be an efficient one -- not all pthreads libraries are 
+created equal.  Many are frontends (expensive ones, at that) for plain old 
+processes.
+
+Does anyone know of a resource that details the 'weight' of processes for our 
+supported platforms?  [reply off-list -- I'll be glad to summarize responses 
+to HACKERS, ADMIN, or PORTS, as appropriate, if desired.]
+--
+Lamar Owen
+WGCR Internet Radio
+1 Peter 4:11
+