Re: Versioning policy and pg_upgrade

Bruce Momjian wrote:
> Robert Haas wrote:
> > On Fri, Jan 28, 2011 at 9:50 PM, Bruce Momjian <bruce@momjian.us> wrote:
> > >> Major releases usually change the format of system tables. ?These
> > >> changes are often complex, so we do not maintain backward
> > >> compatibility. ?Our dump and reload tools do maintain backward
> > >> compatibility and are the most reliable way to perform a major version
> > >> upgrade. ?Some major releases also change the internal format of data
> > >> files; however, in recent releases, we have made an attempt to
> > >> minimize such changes. ?In cases where the data file formats have not
> > >> changed, pg_upgrade can also be used for major upgrade version
> > >> upgrades; this is typically much faster than a dump and reload.
> > >
> > > That seems quite detailed for the web site. ?If we want that I think we
> > > should add those details to the pg_upgrade manual page. ?Some of that is
> > > already there.
> > 
> > It's not that much more than you wrote, and it has the redeeming value
> > of being accurate...
> 
> I added five words.

To followup again, you obviously thought you were writing for our docs,
not the web site.  I will incorporate your wording into the new merged
upgrade doc chapter or into pg_upgrade's manual page.  We don't normally
cover technical details like this on the web site, which is why I think
just mentioning pg_upgrade and a link to it is enough there.

--  Bruce Momjian  <bruce@momjian.us>        http://momjian.us EnterpriseDB
http://enterprisedb.com
 + It's impossible for everything to be true. +