In late 1996, we changed the name of the database server from Postgres95 to POSTGRESQL. It is a mouthful, but honors both the Berkeley name and its SQL capabilities. We started distributing the source code using remote cvs, which allowed people to keep up-to-date copies of the development tree without downloading an entire set of files every day.
Releases occurred every three to five months. Each period consisted of two to three months of development, one month of beta testing, a major release, and a few weeks to issue sub-releases to correct serious bugs. We were never tempted to follow a more aggressive schedule with more releases. A database server is not like a word processor or game, where you can easily restart it if a problem arises. Instead databases are multiuser, and lock user data inside the database, so they must be as reliable as possible.
Download PostgreSQL: Introduction and Concepts
Releases occurred every three to five months. Each period consisted of two to three months of development, one month of beta testing, a major release, and a few weeks to issue sub-releases to correct serious bugs. We were never tempted to follow a more aggressive schedule with more releases. A database server is not like a word processor or game, where you can easily restart it if a problem arises. Instead databases are multiuser, and lock user data inside the database, so they must be as reliable as possible.
Download PostgreSQL: Introduction and Concepts
