Posted by Andy Hassall on 09/13/05 21:58

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.

>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.

>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.

--
Andy Hassall :: andy@andyh.co.uk :: http://www.andyh.co.uk
http://www.andyhsoftware.co.uk/space :: disk and FTP usage analysis tool

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