From:	SMTP%"RELAY-INFO-VAX@CRVAX.SRI.COM"  6-MAY-1993 13:51:56.76
To:	EVERHART
CC:	
Subj:	Re: inexpensive dbms

Date: Wed, 5 May 1993 16:16:11 GMT
From: "Glenn C. Everhart" <EVERHART@arisia.gce.com>
To: info-vax@crvax.sri.com
Message-Id: <930505161611.a0@arisia.gce.com>
Subject: Re: inexpensive dbms

There are a number of free DBMS packages around that work on VMS.
Some of the ones I know of include:

DBAG - dBase III more-or-less lookalike. Has fullscreen entry, lots of
	bells & whistles. Thanks to Nick Nelson who translated the docs
	from the original Portuguese to English, the docs are available
	in the package. Available from some vms sig tapes and separately
	from the DECUS library.

RIM5 - simple relational model DBMS. Versions available from DECUS
	include some for Amiga, PC, VAX/VMS, and unix (actually built
	on suns). No built-in fullscreen interface, but an FMS frontend
	is included. Packaged with analyticalc spreadsheet. An integrated
	program including RIM and AnalytiCalc is present, called 
	AnalyRIM; this works on VMS (vax and axp), Amiga, and unix (sun
	at least). It is a partial solution to the need for a front end.

There are a few other free DBMSs in the DECUS collection. Also available
are university Ingres and Postgres, but these have not been put up on
VMS so far as I know. Many of these will work on VMS. Cost effective
should be no problem; you get sources and can replicate them anywhere
to your heart's content.

RIM-5 is single user. That is, only one person at a time should be accessing
a RIM5 database. I don't know whether DBAG is single user or not. I know
that Ingres and Postgres are MULTI user (and have used university ingres
on sun; works well). Performance is pretty good for the ones I've tried.

Incidentally, the idea of connecting RIM with AnalytiCalc was to let you
use parts of the spreadsheet to look at parts of relations in the DBMS
or to enter data into relations in the DBMS. The intent was not to exhibit
the entire database inside a spreadsheet (a fairly grotesque way of
abusing an interpreter!) but to keep the data mostly in a real relational
database in B-trees so performance doesn't bog down when you get up
to real-world sized problems. Not all the datatypes in RIM can be handled
from the spreadsheet; it knows integers, floats, and variable length
character strings only. Matrices, vectors, etc. don't scan...

If a single user DBMS is all you need (one at a time, mind...) you can
try dbag or rim. For multiuser you might want to see about getting
postgres running, possibly under vms posix for simplicity of porting.
In that case you avoid the $80K (more/less) a pop for a commercial DBMS...

Glenn
Everhart@Arisia.GCE.Com