[wp-hackers] file upload: why actual files?

[Michael Leuchtenburg]

Chris Coggburn wrote:
> Michael Leuchtenburg wrote:
> 
>> Is there a design reason for Wordpress to upload files to a directory, 
>> rather than putting them in the database? It seems to me that it would 
>> make more sense to put them in the database, possibly associated with 
>> individual posts. This would remove the need to have that directory 
>> writable by the user the webserver is running as, it would remove the 
>> need to rename files, and it would reduce the number of places data 
>> needed to backup/recreate a weblog can be in.
>>
>> I am thinking of implementing this. I would do it in a way that can 
>> run alongside the current code, switched by an option in the admin 
>> dialog.
>>
>> Any thoughts?
>>
> 
> The reason why this isn't done is that it places quite a bit of load on 
> the MySQL/Web server that isn't really necessary if it is just read with 
> your webserver. However I do believe that it should be an option to be 
> considered for WP1.3. Also using binary blobs presents a memory issue, 
> MySQL doesn't handle binary data the well on earlier versions, requiring 
> the entire chunk to be loaded into RAM before being sent to PHP and then 
> the client requesting the data.

Do you know at what version it starts handling them well? I haven't been 
able to figure it out, searching with google and on mysql.com.

> Multiblog users might like the idea because it would allow users to 
> upload files and have them just be stored in the database.

Good point. This could be a definite advantage, from a hosting 
perspective. Of course, there are still all the templates which present 
a problem, but that may change as work continues on WP.

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Michael Leuchtenburg  |  http://slashhome.org/
cell: 413.433.0739