Re: ORM with version control?

[Corion]

Don't do this stuff in your ORM. Do that stuff in the database by using triggers. That way, you get the versioning even when you bypass the ORM (^{untested but taken from here}):

CREATE TABLE foo (
    $definitions
);

CREATE TABLE foo_versions (
    username  VARCHAR(8) DEFAULT current_user(),
    timestamp DATETIME DEFAULT NOW(),
    action CHAR(1), -- IUD
    $definitions -- stores the values BEFORE the action
);

CREATE TRIGGER foo_update BEFORE update ON foo
FOR EACH ROW
INSERT INTO foo_versions ('U',$columns);

CREATE TRIGGER foo_delete BEFORE delete ON foo
FOR EACH ROW
INSERT INTO foo_versions ('D',$columns);

CREATE TRIGGER foo_insert BEFORE update ON foo
FOR EACH ROW
INSERT INTO foo_versions ('I',$columns);

Of course, your versions table(s) will grow quickly, but as you'll only ever append to that table, you can truncate it at convenient times.