Re: BUG #5488: pg_dump does not quote column names -> pg_restore may fail when upgrading

Am 10.06.2010 03:10, schrieb Bruce Momjian:

> The point is that if WINDOW was not a reserved word in 8.3 but is in
> 8.4, then every reference to a user column of WINDOW in any 8.4
> application will need to be double-quoted, and odds are the user did not
> do that in 8.3.


This argument is like: "We do not need to fix the flat tire. I'm sure
the engine is broken, too, so the driver can not drive anyway."

Or to say it differently: IMHO your arguments are wrong in three points:

1) You make assumptions about the application bot quoting column names.

2) You are assuming the database maintainer is using an "self
   developed" application.

3) You are taking these assumptions as an excuse not to fix your part
   of the job.

re. 1): While this may be true for many applications it is using
   hand-crafted SQL statements, it is plain wrong for all applications
   using some abstraction layer. These layers need to quote column
   names anyway and the application does not need to be changed here at
   all.

re. 2): Simply consider the case where the application is developed by
   some third party (e.g. some open source project). The application
   developers already did change the application to work with. So this
   part of the job is already done.

re 3): This is plain finger pointing: "Look, there are other issued to
   be fixed. No need to fix ours."

For me these leaves a horrible impression about the Postgresql
community: bone-head dogmatic tech-geeks, not willed to make the
administrators live easier.

> In a way, the fact that the restore fails can be seen as a feature ---
> they get the error before the go live on 8.4.  (Yeah, I am serious.)

"Be happy that I shot you, you would have starved anyway." Gnaa!

--=20
Sch=C3=B6nen Gru=C3=9F - Regards
Hartmut Goebel
Dipl.-Informatiker (univ.), CISSP, CSSLP

Goebel Consult
Spezialist f=C3=BCr IT-Sicherheit in komplexen Umgebungen
http://www.goebel-consult.de

Monatliche Kolumne: http://www.cissp-gefluester.de/
Goebel Consult mit Mitglied bei http://www.7-it.de