[Feature]: Replace cedardb commandline arguments with sub commands

[ansarizafar]

Description

--createdb argument is confusing and does not make sense as this argument is not creating a database with the provided name but initializing a Cedardb instance/data folder (with a default database name: postgres)
Cedardb is a Postgres compatible database and in Postgres there is no concept of a logical database. In Postgres, we must create a cluster first. Creating a new PostgreSQL cluster involves initializing a new database instance and its associated data directory with initdb command and in a cluster/instance a new physical database can be created with CREATE DATABASE statement.

initdb -D /path/to/new/cluster/directory

I had previously suggested to replace --createdb with an init sub command to initialize a Cedardb instance at the provided folder.

./cedardb init <path>     // Initialize cedardb instance - just like postgres
./cedardb shell <path>   // Enter into SQL shell
./cedardb start <path>  // Start Cedardb server

Use Case

Improve cedardb command line tool.

[lukasvogel]

Hi Zafar,
you're right, CedarDB doesn't distinguish between a cluster and a database the same way as postgres does.

For us, there is a "physical database", which is the directory where we store

• table data
• catalog inormation
• the write-ahead log

and which you can create via the --createdb argument. This is what postgres calls a cluster.

We furthermore support "CREATE DATABASE" which then creates a new (logical) database. An arbitrary amount of such logical databases can be stored within that directory.

Regarding your suggestion: Could you let us know in what way the current command line interface is wrong/too cumbersome?
We always want to improve the UX but don't want to make breaking changes in the CLI without good reason.

[ansarizafar]

I would still argue that --createdb mydb is not creating a database with the name mydb. In reality, this command is creating a folder (mydb), initializing a Cedarsb instance in it and creating a default database (postgres).
I would still suggest that, conceptually. it would be correct to use the term Cedardb instance for the data folder and an init sub command should be used to create a new Cedardb instance.

CLI tools mostly use sub commands for different features/actions and sub command can have arguments. Sub commands also clearly show the intent. Without reading the documentation, it is not clear what ./cederdb mydb command will do whereas ./cedardb start mydb clearly shows the intent.

Cedardb is at an early stage and not yet production ready so I think, the project can afford few breaking changes.

[ansarizafar]

Another advantage of using sub commands is that we can group command arguments by functionality. For example, if we want to allow users to set a port then we can add another argument --port

./cederdb start --instance mydb --port 3467

Please check surrealdb cli and flutter cli for an effective use of sub commands.

[ansarizafar]

Sub command will also allow to add more functionality to CLI in an organized way.

./cedardb export --to .... 
./cedardb import --from ....
./cedardb backup ....
./cedardb restore ....