Forum OpenACS Q&A: Response to Yet another PostgreSQL x MySQL Question

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Posted by Don Baccus on
Postgres transactions are 100% atomic with a few minor exceptions.  DML statements like "DROP TABLE" can't be rolled back, for instance.  Restrictions like this are common even in commercial systems like Oracle.

But basic INSERT/UPDATE statements are atomic and can be fully rolled-back.  Postgres doesn't follow the SQL standard in that explicit BEGIN/END statements are required to wrap statements within a transaction - Illustra was the same.  So it would be fair to describe Postgres as having non-standard SQL for transactions, but it their statement is incorrect.

As Jonathon hints, the MySQL folk don't score highly on personal integrity and basic honesty issues.  That, in my mind, is enough reason to stay away from their offerings.