We maintain multiple versions of our application's database and we are looking for version control software to help us automate this. Specifically, we would like to have a program that automatically tracks all changes to the database (tables, views, functions, etc.) and assists with updating customers' databases from one version to the next.
Does anyone know of such a program that works with PostgreSQL? Thanks for your help.
Assuming you mean version control of the _schema_, rather than the data therein, then no, I don't know of any such program available. However, it's not too hard to do it yourself, which is what we've done. Create a table which has only one row, containing a schema version number, and build some constant into your application which has the same number - the application should check the database schema number on startup and complain loudly if the two don't match. Every time you release a new version of the application that has a schema change, then both increment the schema number and write a script that will perform the schema update from version n to version n + 1. If you name your scripts in a consistent way, it's not hard to then write a script that compares the current schema version at a site with that expected by the new application version, and incrementally runs each update script.
Tim
-- ----------------------------------------------- Tim Allen tim@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx Proximity Pty Ltd http://www.proximity.com.au/ http://www4.tpg.com.au/users/rita_tim/
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