Re: files or database for solid pods [Was: Towards Solid Lite]

út 31. 10. 2023 v 13:47 odesílatel Nicolas Chauvat <
nicolas.chauvat@logilab.fr> napsal:

> Hi List,
>
> Le Tue, Oct 31, 2023 at 01:37:47AM +0100, Melvin Carvalho a écrit :
> > Just covering this one point for now.  So a big design decision is files
> vs
> > database.  NSS is files, for example.
>
> Say I have an application that records contacts as first name, family
> name and postal address and another application that records contacts
> as first name, family name and phone numbers.
>
> With documents / LDP, my understanding is that each app will write the
> first name and family name in two different documents /
> triple-containers... and there we have two data silos within a single
> pod.
>
> Unless... both apps agree on a common data model and share the same
> document/triple-container, but then let's talk about that third app that
> deals with contacts and has its reasons not to use the same data model
> in whole... and we are back to two data silos within a single pod, one
> used by two apps and the other by the third app.
>
> With a graph database, I would expect to have a single graph where to
> store everything and that the two data models are just views/parts of
> the whole graph (possibly with on-the-fly model mapping or inference
> to share data between similar models). Of course, for it to work in
> the real world where not everything is public, I need a mechanism to
> authorize the access to parts of that graph.
>
> Using the above arguments, I fail to see why one would want to walk
> the files path instead of the database one.
>
> Could someone explain to me why the files option seems reasonnable and
> for which use cases ?
>

You've described a use case that requires merging, and given a beautiful
example of how a triple store makes merging cheaper.  I agree.

However making merging cheaper comes at a cost.

Now I need a whole data base infrastructure of use cases that dont require
merging.  Such as storing a document.  Saving a note.  Creating a profile,
and so on.

Then there are things which a triple store cant do.  Such as saving my
family photos.  Storing a song or playlist.  Uploading a video.

The web started out by linking documents so it stands to reason that
flavours of solid should inherit this ability, in the general case.

Does it make sense?


>
> --
> Nicolas Chauvat
>
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