Re: contrib promotion?

On Tue, Jul 18, 2006 at 03:37:52PM +0300, Marko Kreen wrote:
> On 7/14/06, Tom Lane <tgl@sss.pgh.pa.us> wrote:
> >I don't see a strong need for moving pgcrypto into core, and there's at
> >least one argument against it: if someone needs a crypto-free version of
> >postgres for use someplace with benighted laws, they would be screwed.
> 
> Image of hypothetical evil government is not a thing to base decisions on :)
> 
> Although I've tried to develop pgcrypto to be easily mergable into core,
> I don't want to push it myself, the push should come from users.
> 
> That said, there is one situation that is badly handled in current
> setup - storing passwords in database.  There is md5() function in
> core and everything in /contrib in basically invisible in website
> and official docs.  So even PG core devs suggest using md5() for
> this task.  But this is inadequate - bruteforcing md5 hash can be
> done pretty easily on todays desktop computers.  PostgreSQL itself
> can get away with it only because it regular users cant see the hash.
> But that is not so for ordinary apps.
> 
> So I would like either some mention of the more useful/stable modules
> in core docs or a way for contrib modules to become 'official' add-on
> modules (like PL-s are).
This is actually an issue that goes way beyond pgcrypto. I think the
manual should formally mention both /contrib and pgFoundry.org as
someplace to get add-on features. An even better long-term solution
would be something akin to CPAN, but I'm not holding my breath for
that...

> Full merge into core would fix this also, but indeed there is not many
> techical reasons for it.  (And editing pg_proc.h is PITA - I'd consider
> it technical reason against it ;)
> 
> -- 
> marko
> 
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Jim C. Nasby, Sr. Engineering Consultant      jnasby@pervasive.com
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