Re: Float output formatting options

"Christopher Kings-Lynne" <chriskl(at)familyhealth(dot)com(dot)au> writes:
> Curse my slowness, but what's the actual problem being fixed here?

Two things:

* allow pg_dump to accurately dump and restore float quantities (setting
float_extra_digits to 2 during the dump will accomplish this, at least
on systems with reasonable float I/O routines).

* allow us to get out from under the geometry regression test's platform
dependency problems (setting float_extra_digits to -2 or so during the
test should make most or all of the variations go away).

This proposal is the first one I've seen that solves both these problems
without introducing any compatibility issues of its own.

regards, tom lane