Re: 9.6 -> 10.0

On 4/5/16 9:01 PM, Joshua D. Drake wrote:
> I was actually trying to give our users credit. Our users know that we
> wouldn't break compatibility unless we absolutely saw a reason for it
> and that we planned for it. Lastly, that we would show them the respect
> they deserve by communicating with them in a way that gives them time to
> plan for something like that.

FWIW, the users I was thinking of in particular are those folks running
databases that are so large it's impractical for them to have more than
one copy. Maybe by the time 9.6 goes EOL YottaByte drives will be so
cheap that it doesn't matter, but I don't think we should count on that.

Also, I disagree with your assertion that we must eventually have a
compatibility break. Anything is possible in software, if you're willing
to expend the effort on it. ISTR that even just a few years before Bruce
wrote pg_upgrade people were saying that wasn't possible either.

So the first question needs to be not "When?" but "Should we?" Before
that can be answered we need a list of TODO items that would break
pg_upgrade as it exists today. Then some thought can be put into what it
would take to support an in-place upgrade with those changes. MAYBE it
turns out that it's just too much effort and we do need a break, but
that needs to be a very well justified decision.
--
Jim C. Nasby, Data Architect                       jim@nasby.net
512.569.9461 (cell)                         http://jim.nasby.net