Re: [OT]MySQL and foreign keys

Andy Hassall wrote:

Hi Andy,

> On Tue, 13 Sep 2005 17:14:16 +0200, Erwin Moller
> <since_humans_read_this_I_am_spammed_too_much@spamyourself.com> wrote:
>
>>This is a bit off topic, but I just like it in this ng. ;-)
>
> Incidentally, comp.databases.mysql just passed its creation vote so
> should be
> appearing in the near future for an on-topic place for this sorta stuff.
>

My provider isn't relaying it (yet).
But thanks for the tip. :-)
I was quite sure I would get a good response here anyway. :-)

>>I never used MySQL, since I am a PostgreSQL fan.
>>But I am helping a friend with learning PHP/database and he has a setup
>>with MySQL.
>>
>>I was baffled to see that I can make Foreign Keys, but they are actually
>>never checked by the mySQL engine.
>>
>>Am I mad, or does MySQL not support Foreign Keys?
>
> It's supported them since sometime in 3.2, but only if you use the InnoDB
> storage engine.

Aha.
So I should contact my friends provider to ask them to move to InnoDB.
I guess he has to learn SQL without FK's for the time being.

>
>>And if so: Why is it that MySQL is so popular?
>
> It's a quick, dirty, light and (originally) free database that can be
> picked
> up relatively easily since it didn't bother with much of the stuff that
> "proper" databases did (like data integrity etc.). It then got thrown in
> with hosting packages which further fuelled its popularity - since it was
> there, it got used.
>
> It's come a fair way since then and is approaching being a "proper"
> database
> now, almost, if you set it up correctly.

Ok, thanks for your response!

Regards,
Erwin Moller

>
> --
> Andy Hassall :: andy@andyh.co.uk :: http://www.andyh.co.uk
> http://www.andyhsoftware.co.uk/space :: disk and FTP usage analysis tool
Received on Tue Oct 18 02:23:21 2005