At 1:10 PM -0700 8/18/99, Scott Hess wrote:
>Paul DuBois <paul@stripped> wrote:
>> At 1:59 PM -0400 8/18/99, Urb LeJeune wrote:
>> >>I need to store GIF's in MySQL.
>> >
>> > Why? increadable waste of space and performance destroyer.
>> >Why not just store a link?
>>
>> As for wasting space, every file in a file system has wasted space,
>> unless it exactly fills up the last block allocated to it. Why would
>> MySQL be worse than the file system?
>
>You're right, but returning a link or something of the sort gives you a
>_very_ easy way to move the blobs off the database machine entirely.
That's true. On the other hand ...
Suppose that the gifs are being stored for use in a Web environment.
If access to the gifs is effected through some mechanism like a DBI or
PHP script that, given an image identifier, shoves the image out an
HTTP port, it wouldn't be difficult to create an abstraction that
would make the location of the gifs fairly irrelevant. You could
store the images in the file system and write the script to act accordingly.
Or you could store them in the database and write the script to act
accordingly. This gives you the ability to change the way you store
the images, too (maybe you have them in the database, then decide you
want them in the file system instead, or the other way around). The
only thing you need to change is the script, they still get served
correctly no matter where the images are.
So I guess I still don't really see a clear advantage one way or
another?
--
Paul DuBois, paul@stripped
