Ask HN: What are pros and cons of PostgreSQL and MySQL?
Background on me; I abuse databases. I currently use pgsql as a k&#x2F;v store with locking metadata because it&#x27;s the only database technology that supports being forced onto disk (not just writing into VFS). It&#x27;s also pushing huge row sizes (1MB)<p>My team spent many months trying to mangle MySQL into doing a similar thing (which it will do) but eventually we hit a performance stop with MySQL.<p>We did many things to improve the performance; switched to using fastsockets in the kernel, changed memory allocators (tried two different ones) but at 40cores and 8 pci-e ssds it was spin locking some function in memory.<p>Not to mention it&#x27;s history with throwing data away.<p>Most people use MySQL because they know it already- and I would say that&#x27;s fair comment. But getting started with PostgreSQL is easier and it scales better, so it&#x27;s hard for me to agree with using it in 2017.<p>To get started with a random test db you can do:<p>mkdir database<p>pg_ctl -D database initdb<p>pg_ctl -D database start<p>psql -h database