Hacker News Reader

Comment by firebacon | Hacker News Reader

That completely depends on the chosen metric/definition though. For example, you could consider the most used database the one that handles the most queries per day. Not so clear who is the winner now. The claim that SQLite is one of the 5 most widely deployed pieces of software worldwide is completely unsubstantiated and most likely untrue once you count in things like ICU, the linux kernel, etc.

View on HN

> ICU, the linux kernel, etc.

It seems unlikely that either of these are more widely deployed than SQLite, especially the Linux kernel.

Probably the vast majority of deployments of the Linux kernel include SQLite. Add in all the non-Linux devices (e.g. the billions of iOS and Windows devices) and that's probably far more than the number of Linux installations without SQLite.

I don't know much about ICU, and perhaps you're right that it's one of the most used bits of software. But I can certainly imagine embedded devices that never communicate with users and wouldn't need ICU but do need to store data.

My point was less about arguing which is more popular, but more that the same claim can equally be made for at least hundreds if not thousands of other software packages. Still, SQLite stands out to me as the only package I can recall that consistently puts this message all over the documentation front and center. Which is definitely still a useful signal, even if we both agree that it is, in fact, widely used.

Are you deliberately misreading the linked page?

  Most Widely Deployed and Used Database Engine

That last part is rather important.

No, I'm referring to the second section.

> MOST WIDELY DEPLOYED SOFTWARE MODULE OF ANY KIND? -- SQLite is probably one of the top five most deployed software modules of any description. Other libraries with similar reach include: zlib... blah blah blah

It stops just short of claiming it's the most deployed software in the world...

Barring an actual study with data, I don't think their claim is that far fetched.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com