# Postgres-ing? Too many choices!

**URL:** <https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/postgres-ing-too-many-choices/52302>\
**Category:** Ruby\
**Created:** [January 12, 2006, 6:13pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/postgres-ing-too-many-choices/52302 "2006-01-12T18:13:39Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 4\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![daveh](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/d/85e7bf/32.png) [@daveh](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/daveh)\
**Post date:** [January 12, 2006, 6:13pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/postgres-ing-too-many-choices/52302/1 "2006-01-12T18:13:39Z")

</div>

it appears that there are three different Gems for talking to a  
PostgreSQL database.

```
postgres (0.7.1)
postgres-pr (0.4.0)
ruby-postgres (0.7.1)

```

What are the differences between them? How do I pick one?

Thanks.

---

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**Author:** ![daveh](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/d/85e7bf/32.png) [@daveh](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/daveh)\
**Post date:** [January 12, 2006, 6:19pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/postgres-ing-too-many-choices/52302/2 "2006-01-12T18:19:51Z")

</div>

On 1/12/06, Dave H. [removed\_email\_address@domain.invalid](mailto:removed_email_address@domain.invalid) wrote:

> it appears that there are three different Gems for talking to a  
> PostgreSQL database.
> 
> ```
> postgres (0.7.1)
> postgres-pr (0.4.0)
> ruby-postgres (0.7.1)
> 
> ```
> 
> What are the differences between them? How do I pick one?

postgres and ruby-postgres are the same project. all the gems for  
ruby-postgres are post 0.7.1 snapshots. I’ve been saying this for a  
while, but I intend to release a 0.8.0 release real soon now. I will  
probably release the most recent snapshot of the ruby-postgres gem as  
the 0.8.0 release, so it should be pretty functional. it contains  
many fixes and improvements over the postgres-0.7.1 gem. postgres-pr  
is a pure ruby extension, it doesn’t rely on PostgreSQL’s libpq client  
library. AFAIK, it’s not as functional as the native extensions.

Dave

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![daveh](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/d/85e7bf/32.png) [@daveh](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/daveh)\
**Post date:** [January 12, 2006, 6:53pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/postgres-ing-too-many-choices/52302/3 "2006-01-12T18:53:12Z")

</div>

On Fri, Jan 13, 2006 at 02:18:57AM +0900, Dave L. wrote:  
} On 1/12/06, Dave H. [removed\_email\_address@domain.invalid](mailto:removed_email_address@domain.invalid) wrote:  
} \> it appears that there are three different Gems for talking to a  
} \> PostgreSQL database.  
} \>  
} \> postgres (0.7.1)  
} \> postgres-pr (0.4.0)  
} \> ruby-postgres (0.7.1)  
} \>  
} \> What are the differences between them? How do I pick one?  
}  
} postgres and ruby-postgres are the same project. all the gems for  
} ruby-postgres are post 0.7.1 snapshots. I’ve been saying this for a  
} while, but I intend to release a 0.8.0 release real soon now. I will  
} probably release the most recent snapshot of the ruby-postgres gem as  
} the 0.8.0 release, so it should be pretty functional. it contains  
} many fixes and improvements over the postgres-0.7.1 gem. postgres-pr  
} is a pure ruby extension, it doesn’t rely on PostgreSQL’s libpq client  
} library. AFAIK, it’s not as functional as the native extensions.

So I went with postgres-pr instead of asking this question, and now I’m  
sorry I did. Would it mess things up to install the  
postgres/ruby-postgres  
gem? How do I make sure I’m using the right one?

} Dave  
–Greg

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![daveh](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/d/85e7bf/32.png) [@daveh](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/daveh)\
**Post date:** [January 12, 2006, 7:23pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/postgres-ing-too-many-choices/52302/4 "2006-01-12T19:23:23Z")

</div>

On Fri, 2006-01-13 at 02:50 +0900, Gregory S. wrote:

> So I went with postgres-pr instead of asking this question, and now  
> I’m  
> sorry I did. Would it mess things up to install the  
> postgres/ruby-postgres  
> gem? How do I make sure I’m using the right one?

gem install postgres  
gem uninstall postgres-pr

🙂

-Robby

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