Re: Package version in PG_VERSION and version()

Re: Robert Haas 2017-12-17 <CA+Tgmoan5jER6OpGWOZZBvOgzQ5SJMpP7e2vvzhgFB4pxC33gw@mail.gmail.com>
> Unfortunately, actually modifying the main version number breaks large
> numbers of tools and drivers that think they know what a PostgreSQL
> version number looks like, as many people who work for my employer can
> testify to from personal experience with a piece of software that
> displays a non-default version number.  I think --with-extra-version
> is therefore badly-designed and probably mostly useless in its current
> form, and as Christoph's example shows, it's not really adapted for
> the kind of string he wants to add.  I don't really care whether we
> leave --with-extra-version as-is and add something else for the kind
> of thing Christoph wants to do, or whether we add a different thing
> that does what he wants to do, but I think it's a very good idea to
> provide something along the lines of what he wants.

My idea is to put the information in a place where it is accessible,
but not obtrusive. version() seemed to be the only place for that
(server_version is just the short version), and it already has the
compiler version, so it fits, I think.

> In short, "the version number is important enough to show" != "the
> version number is important enough to break compatibility with large
> numbers of tools and drivers".

Exactly.

Added as https://commitfest.postgresql.org/16/1418/ now.

If people think it's worth it (windows?), I'll add a configure
--switch, otherwise with just reading from $VENDOR_VERSION, it's a
one-liner.

Christoph
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