The drupal sql file for postgresql ran into two fatal bugs. One with “alter sequence” and another with “anyelement”. Possibly this is a hosting issue, because I only have access to 7.3.10 on my host and drupal says 7.4, but I suspect there’s even more trouble ahead, so this experiment is officially over. I had hoped to pick up some further experience working with both packages, but it is not to be.

I’m not ready to blame this one on drupal, though I admit it wasn’t easy finding out what version of postgresql was required. (There’s no “system requirements” listing on the website. You need to dig through their FAQ section to find it.) But since the version I was using wasn’t the one they specified, I’ll give them the benefit of the doubt that the errors encountered are due to that. As a user, it doesn’t matter where the error lies; the error just means I can’t use the product.

The drupal community is pretty vocal when one criticizes the product; one only wishes the development community around it was just as enthusiastic about the user-friendliness of the product. (Yes, I know I’m welcome to come in and contribute to this end. But that requires first an answer to the question “Why should I?” If I’m a user of the product, that response has a little validity; if I’m just wandering around trying to find out if the product is worth committing my time and energies to, the question takes on more importance. No one has successfully answered the question “Why is it so hard just to set up a working version of this product?” and I’ll have to have a working product before I can even begin to decide whether it’s close enough to usable that I should spend my time getting it the rest of the way there.)

I’ve got a copy of Douglasss, Little, and Smith’s book, I’m playing around with it on mySQL, where it was easier to install, so maybe I’ll have some answers for myself on this question. But I’ll have to find another excuse to play around with PostgreSQL. A friend of mine who is a db developer by trade tells me it’s necessary because the bugs in mySQL make it difficult to use in an enterprise environment (not meaning to start a db discussion, too, but I’m just reporting the reason why I’m adding that particular tool to my box. Once I’ve gained the requisite familiarity with both, I’ll make up my own mind about the bugs, if they even still exist by that time.)