OT Re: DEC OS

FreeBSD runs mySQL very well, as long as you bear in mind the following... this all applies to FreeBSD v4.8 and prior. I wouldn't recommend the 5X train yet. 1) You MUST compile with the LINUX_THREADS option 2) You MUST use mySQL v4.X or higher #1 is because threading is somewhat broken on FreeBSD, always has been on releases prior to 5.X. However, this "brokeness" only appears under extremely heavy thread load so in typical (even production) use isn't noticed. By heavy load I'm talking about the mysql server eating up 99+% of the cpu. If you never hit that high of a load you won't have a problem. This thread issue is exacerbated specifically by mySQL and they way it is designed - many other (but not all) threaded applications don't have a problem. #2 is because FreeBSD has "BROKEN_REAL_PATH". If you use mysql v4.x and higher, this is taken care of for you (as well as another minor couple of things too specific to FreeBSD - this all assumes you are using the FreeBSD port). Rumor has it that threading is completely redone in FreeBSD v5x, so none of this may be a problem if you use 5X. However, last I checked, even on the current (v5.1) freebsd release, they are still recommending to stay away from threads till it's field proven. As a comparison to Linux, well, Linux has a severe problem with its virtual memory architecture, something FreeBSD excells in. I will take FreeBSD/mysql(as patched above)/great VM system, to Linux/mysql(no patching neede)/horrid VM system any day of the week. Jay West ----- Original Message ----- From: Wesley Widner To: cctalk(a)classiccmp.org Sent: Wednesday, September 03, 2003 1:36 PM Subject: DEC OS I have a DEC Alphastation 500a and need to decide on an OS to put on it since I want to use it as a MySQL server. I've got a choice of WinNT, RH 7.3, Debain, FreeBSD and NetBSD. I've successfully loaded WindowsNT but I can't seem to find any alpha software for it so I'm leaning towards *nix systems instead. I've not been able to load the RH 7.3 supplied by support.compaq.com but I have been able to load Debain and had it working at one time but I wiped it out for some reason and have to reinstall it again. Anyhow, does anyone else have any suggestions on this subject? I'm leaning towards the BSD options at the moment. ---- ---Wesley Widner -- -