File sharing software

[Jay Nelson]

Yariv Sadan wrote (after a series of exchanges involving using mnesia for P2P software):

> Well, Claes, that's very reassuring! If you're the one who wrote  
> dets, nobody would know better than you how to enhance it. Would you  
> be interested in implementing this feature? (I suppose I could try to  
> follow your guidelines and hack my own storage engine, but that would  
> be Plan B :) )


I'm still wondering what your actual requirements are.  I must be picturing a different application
because I don't see the benefits of a database or dets.  A few questions:

1) Do you need this for a user database (e.g., all registered members and their buddy name)?
    a) If so, how many users?
    b) Are they to be accessed any way other than by login name?

2) Do you need this for a file database (e.g., all files that can be exchanged)?
    a) If so, why does it have to be central?

3) Are there some other objects that you need to store (e.g., account configuration, billing, etc)?
    a) Do they have special access characteristics?

3) Why do you want to store blobs in a database?  They won't be searchable in any way will they?

4) What features of a database do you think you need?


Just curious if a database is really what solves your problem.

jay