trouble caused by change in 7.3 handling of '' in integer context

Vivek,

I'll not echo what others have said so far, and indeed what i've said
myself in a previous thread about this.

An important fact to take into account is that PostgreSQL 7.3 was
available as an open beta for quite a period - This period is both for
maturing changes made during the development and to allow client
authors to test against the new version.

Shouldn't at least ONE person who uses 'Request Tracker' have
perticipated in this beta program? PostgreSQL is community project
after all, you need to be proactive.

Indeed if someone involved with 'Request Tracker' read/skimmed the
hackers list then they could have discussed the implications before
the change was made. The PostgreSQL developers are great (thanks
guys!) but they are not all-seeing and all-knowing, they cannot
foresee all possible implications of a change.

Thanks, Lee.

Vivek Khera writes:
> I see in the 7.3 HISTORY file this:
>
> * An empty string ('') is no longer allowed as the input into an
> integer field. Formerly, it was silently interpreted as 0.
>
> This is causing major issues with the Request Tracker program
> <http://www.bestpractical.com/rt>.
>
> The author has gone so far as to notify all current users that
> Postgres 7.3 is not usable with RT, and to stick to 7.2, or to use
> MySQL.
>
> Apparently, there is a lot of work that will be necessary to retrofit
> RT to this change. Is there any way possible to make this a logged
> warning rather than a fatal so that there is time to transition the RT
> code? I didn't see any notice in any prior release of the upcoming
> change.
>
> This unfortunately locks me into the 7.2 line until (if) RT can be
> fixed up, and I could really use the 7.3 improvements for my other
> applications.