[mapserver-users] Mapserver and PostgreSQL

[Arjen Vrielink]

Hello All,

I was wondering if I could connect to a PostgreSQL database directly 
from Mapserver. The problem is that we have SuSE 8.1 doing the 
installation of PostgreSQL so we don't have the pg src code on our 
machine which you need to install / compile PostGIS. Not being convinced 
about the benefits of POSTGIS after reading the documentation I decided 
I could live without it. That is, until I tried to get Mapserver connect 
to my Postgres db --> There are no error messages but I don't get the 
layer displayed either (I use an ESRI shapefile which I dumped to SQL 
code for testing). So my basic question is: do I really need Postgis 
(and what are the benefits of Postgis anyway)? if I really need postgis, 
I will get the postgres source code and install it manually on my linux box.

Suggestions would be appreciated, thanks

using:
Linux 2.4.something
PostgreSQL 7.2
Mapserver 3.6
(PHP 4.3.0RC1)

arjen,
SarVision
Wageningen
The Netherlands