- DocumentDB began as a Postgres add-on earlier than evolving right into a standalone challenge
- The Linux Basis’s adoption indicators a brand new period for open doc databases
- MongoDB’s restrictive licensing choices created openings for DocumentDB’s permissive method
For years, open supply databases have been described as both conventional relational methods or newer NoSQL alternate options.
The emergence of DocumentDB, first launched by Microsoft and now adopted below the Linux Basis, is blurring that divide.
By combining PostgreSQL with document-oriented storage by way of extensions, DocumentDB positions itself as each acquainted to builders and disruptive to current NoSQL gamers.
From PostgreSQL extensions to a full challenge
Its adoption below the permissive MIT license indicators a push for wider neighborhood participation.
“It is nice that Microsoft, AWS, and others are becoming a member of forces to work on DocumentDB, an open supply implementation of a MongoDB-compatible API on prime of PostgreSQL,” mentioned Bruce Momjian, founding member of the PostgreSQL core improvement group.
“We constructed DocumentDB with a easy objective: give builders an open doc database with the pliability of NoSQL and the ability, reliability, openness, and ecosystem of Postgres,” mentioned Kirill Gavrylyuk, vp at Microsoft.
DocumentDB started in 2024 as a pair of PostgreSQL add-ons for dealing with BSON information fashions and doc queries.
Inside a yr, the challenge expanded right into a standalone database that also relies upon closely on PostgreSQL’s reliability and ecosystem.
This twin id, half relational engine and half doc retailer, makes DocumentDB enticing for builders in search of a standard interface.
But skeptics level out that layering doc options onto PostgreSQL doesn’t erase the structural limitations of relational methods.
The transfer to carry DocumentDB into the Linux Basis has attracted help from Amazon Net Providers, Google, and others.
Their endorsement indicators a uncommon second of alignment amongst main cloud distributors, significantly given the licensing disputes that fractured the database world lately.
“AWS is worked up to contribute to the open supply DocumentDB challenge, now stewarded by the Linux Basis,” mentioned Adam Abrevaya, director, Amazon DocumentDB.
“It’s nice to see the DocumentDB challenge becoming a member of the Linux Basis, which assures prospects and the neighborhood have an overtly ruled, open supply choice out there to them,” mentioned Sailesh Krishnamurthy, vp of engineering, Google Cloud.
Nonetheless, critics recall that vendor neutrality has typically been extra symbolic than sensible.
A challenge backed by hyperscalers can simply grow to be formed by their priorities, leaving smaller contributors to surprise how a lot affect neighborhood governance will genuinely maintain.
The adoption of DocumentDB will also be seen as a response to MongoDB’s determination to embrace restrictive licensing fashions.
By providing a permissive various, the Linux Basis hopes to push towards a extra interoperable customary for doc databases.
Trade veterans argue that such a regular is lengthy overdue, however the timing is contentious.
Nevertheless, MongoDB continues to dominate the market, and its defenders insist that bolting doc capabilities onto PostgreSQL is not any substitute for a local design.
“DocumentDB fills a vital hole within the doc database ecosystem, attracting contributors, customers, and champions. It supplies an open customary for document-based purposes,” mentioned Jim Zemlin, govt director of the Linux Basis.
For builders engaged on Linux distros or configuring laptops for programming, DocumentDB could seem as one other software promising simplicity and openness.
Enterprises contemplating cellular workstations or SaaS integrations might also see attraction in a standardized, Postgres-based NoSQL choice.
But the truth is much less easy as a result of success relies on technical advantage and the neighborhood’s resistance to tilting towards the most important distributors.
