[postgis-devel] Re: PostGIS datastore creation

[Chris Hodgson]

Markus Schaber wrote:
> As long as the libraries (lwgeom, geos, proj) are installed in the
> correct pathes on the server, it is completely possible to install
> PostGIS from the client, having the postgis.sql file and the
> spatial_refsys.sql on the client.

I agree, but why would you have the correct version of the postgis.sql 
file (or even any postgis.sql file) on the client? That is what I mean 
by reliably. And surely you recognize that the definition of "correct 
paths" is rather subjective - it's perfectly functional to install the 
postgis (and other) libraries in any path at all (I might have to put it 
in my home directory if I'm doing a pure user-mode install) - all that 
would be reflected in the postgis.sql file... and as long as I had that 
specific postgis.sql file on the remote client, then yes, it would be 
possible. But I think it would be confusing and misleading to say that 
anything like a "remote postgis install" was possible, considering the 
very specific circumstances required.

Actually, if you have the right postgis.sql, all you need is psql to 
install it. There is our installer! Just change postgis.sql to create 
and switch to "template_postgis", and perhaps rename it to 
"install_postgis_template.sql". Then we don't have to worry about 
platforms, etc., as we can safely assume that psql is already available 
to us.