Sqlite defaults in many ways perfectly fine, you get the foot guns when you need the performance. Read the article rather than commenting on HN because WAL is not default.

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btown 4 days ago | parent | next [-]

There's some nuance here. The compiler flags SQLITE_DEFAULT_SYNCHRONOUS and SQLITE_DEFAULT_WAL_SYNCHRONOUS are set to FULL by default, which does fsync on each commit.

https://sqlite.org/compile.html

But there is a thing called NORMAL mode which, in WAL and non-WAL mode, does not fsync on each commit. In WAL mode, at least this doesn't cause corruption, but it can still lose data.

https://www.sqlite.org/pragma.html#pragma_synchronous is very explicit that the thing called NORMAL does have these risks. But it's still called NORMAL, and I'd think that's something of a foot-slingshot for newcomers, if not a full-fledged footgun.

	▲	nutjob2 2 days ago \| parent [-]
		FULL can also lose data if you lose power or crash before the fsync. This is just a simple trade of losing slightly more data (possibly) in return for better performance. Fsync is relatively expensive. Recovery price is not going to differ much between the two settings. It's like 1 in 1000 loss for 999 in 1000 gain. Makes perfect sense to me.

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ehutch79 3 days ago | parent | prev | next [-]

But I constantly read advice to change to WAL on this very site. No further nuance, just that if I do it’ll out perform a MySQL cluster.

	▲	lupusreal 3 days ago \| parent [-]
		That's why you should read the documentation and not comments from random bozos telling you to do a thing without you, or probably they, even knowing what it actually does. Read the documentation and learn how your tools work. Don't cargo cult.

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nh2 4 days ago | parent | prev [-]

> Sqlite defaults in many ways perfectly fine

In the sibling comment we are discussing how the default of sqlite is not durable, so it's only ACI, not ACID.

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45005866

So you do get the foot guns automatically.

> rather than commenting on HN

I appreciate the parent commenting on HN, because they seem to be ... right.

	▲	tobias3 4 days ago \| parent [-]
		The default with the build in sqlite in macos. Means Apple engineers made this choice.