- From: Maciej Stachowiak <mjs@apple.com>
- Date: Fri, 26 Jun 2009 13:13:06 -0700
- To: "Nikunj R. Mehta" <nikunj.mehta@oracle.com>
- Cc: Jonas Sicking <jonas@sicking.cc>, Ian Hickson <ian@hixie.ch>, Doug Schepers <schepers@w3.org>, public-webapps WG <public-webapps@w3.org>, Charles McCathieNevile <chaals@opera.com>, Arthur Barstow <art.barstow@nokia.com>, Jeff Mischkinsky <JEFF.MISCHKINSKY@oracle.com>
On Jun 26, 2009, at 10:26 AM, Nikunj R. Mehta wrote: > >> >> As a side note, it should be noted Berkeley DB itself could not be >> used by WebKit or Gecko to implement the spec, because even though >> it is open source, the license is not compatible with the LGPL. It >> seems unlikely that non-open-source browser engines could use it >> either, unless they are willing to pay Oracle for a commercial >> license. So it's very important for the spec to be clear and >> detailed, because everyone will have to implement it from scratch. > > Huh? what? I hope you had read Oracle's BDB license document [3] and > open source FAQ [4]. IANAL, but I can get answers for your specific > concerns in the context of open source Berkeley DB. AFAICT, someone > like Mozilla would not face any trouble with the open source license > of Berkeley DB. YMMV. I read the license. By my reading, it imposes requirements that go beyond WebKit's LGPL license or Gecko's BSD/GPL/LGPL tri-license: <http://www.oracle.com/technology/software/products/berkeley-db/htdocs/oslicense.html >. Specifically clause 3 of the license. > >> >> It's also not clear to me if a BDB-level API is sufficient for >> developer needs. As I understand it, it's basically a giant >> dictionary with unstructured keys and values. So it's not providing >> much over LocalStorage, except for prefix matching and the ability >> to hold large amounts of records or records that are individually >> large. There's no way to efficiently query by one of several >> fields, as I understand it. > > I trust that you are relatively new to storing data with B-trees. > They are at the heart of Oracle's indices so efficiency is out of > question. If you are wondering how can people store complex data > items with multiple fields and repeating values, look at Berkeley DB > Java Edition, which supports the EJB 3 persistence model [5]. FYI, > there is no significant difference between the APIs of BDB Java > Edition and the original BDB. They also have identical licensing > requirements. Your references do not appear to explain on a technical level how one stores data with multiple fields in a way that you can query efficiently by more than one of them. I would appreciate a brief explanation. Regards, Maciej P.S. I would appreciate if you could discuss technical matters without mock incredulity or condescension.
Received on Friday, 26 June 2009 20:13:48 UTC