Re: storing comment in the database

On 09/06/2014 09:32 AM, Peter Funk wrote:
> Stuart McGraw schrieb am Freitag, den 05.09.2014 um 11:25:
> ...
>> There is one problem though and I would appreciate opinions on 
>> how difficult it might be to work around it.
>> 
>> The problem is that Roundup stores issue comments in files rather
>> than in the database.  Quite a bit of past experience here has
>> convinced many that sooner or later they will become separated.
> 
> What do you mean with "become separated"?

That with time, one may end up with the database but not 
the files.  Often backup procedures are different for data-
bases and files systems; they can end up being backed up 
on different schedules and different media.  The tracker 
may be migrated to other systems over time, not just hardware 
or OS's but other issue tracking systems.  In any of these 
steps the potential exists for the database to get recovered 
or moved but the files overlooked.

Of course that's not as likely with an active tracker since
the loss would be immediately noticed but when trying to 
recover historical data from a lightly used or no longer 
used system, it is more likely.

It is nice to have one package that you know contains all 
the important data and is accessible, even without Roundup.

There are other reasons as well to want everything in the 
database, transactional integrity being one.  I gathered 
from the comments in blobfiles.py that is still not a 
completely solved problem in Roundup.

And it makes it easier if you have other tools that want
to interact with the data -- even if the tools are in 
Python and can in principle use the Roundup API, there
are issues like Python2 vs Python3.  And if the tools are
in some other language then it adds complexity (not just 
more code but different access permission models) to have 
to go fishing around the file system rather than just 
getting everything from the database.  And then there are
third party tools like report generators that may not have
any ability to access the filesystem.

>> Thus I would like to somehow modify Roundup to save comments 
>> and other attachments in the database.  I have seen comments 
>> around (on wiki, in code?) that such might be desirable as a
>> future enhancement.
> ...
> 
> Hmmm... We use Roundup in our small company since 2005.  
> 
> Currently we have about 29 GB in db/files and the database 
> is about 457 MB  (so our db requires only 1.5% of the space 
> needed for the whole roundup archive).
>
> Being a rather traditional person I like the possibility to
> make incremental backups of our Roundup DB together with all
> other really important files on a single DL-DVD each week,
> which I can store in a safe place.  If all files and attachments
> would be part of one huge DB, this would require blu-ray discs.

That's a good point and one I hadn't thought about.  But in 
our case
- We already have existing procedures for backing up a number
 of large databases.
- Use of the tracker is light and the database is quite small 
 compared to some of the others.
- In our usage of the tracker, the overwhelming majority
 of comments are very small.

One could also have hybrid approach: a (configurable) file 
size limit below which they are saved in the database and above,
in the file system.  (I think Bugzilla does this.)  Or attachments
(which tend to be bigger) in the file system exclusively.  Or both.
 
> IMHO it is a bad idea to create a huge database by putting all
> files and attachments also into the database too.  YMMV.

I realize that database blobs vs filesystem is a perennial 
topic of debate in database circles and many people have 
strong opinions one way or the other but I don't think there 
is a strong consensus in favor of one or the other.

So I don't think it would be a bad thing if Roundup offered 
both options.

> Best regards, Peter Funk.

Thanks much for your comments, those were good points.




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