Re: How to modify ENUM datatypes?

On Wednesday 30 April 2008 11:00, Craig Ringer wrote:
> Robert Treat wrote:
> > If one were to have built something on postgresql 5 years ago, they would
> > have had to do it on 7.3. Whenever anyone posts a problem on 7.3, the
> > first thing people do now days is jump up and down waving thier arms
> > about while exclaiming how quickly they should upgrade.
>
> [snip]
>
> > I'd have to
> > say that the core developers for this project do not release software
> > with the expectation that you will use if for more than 5 years.
>
<snip>
> That says nothing about the people out there still using 7.3 and similar
> without problems, running well within its capabilities and happy with
> what it's doing. I doubt many people would advise them to upgrade - at
> least not in a hurry and not with any jumping and hand-waving.
>
<snip>
> My impression from using PostgreSQL is that people using old versions
> are taken seriously. Data corruption, crash and security bug fixes get
> applied to very old versions. For example, 7.3.21 was released on Jan
> 2008, and includes several fixes:
>
> http://www.postgresql.org/docs/current/static/release-7-3-21.html
>

from those very release notes "This is expected to be the last PostgreSQL
release in the 7.3.X series. Users are encouraged to update to a newer
release branch soon."

If you are on any version of 7.3, the official response is "you need to
upgrade to a newer major version" regardless of your problems. You're
overlooking data-loss level bugs that can bite people even if they aren't
currently suffering from any issues.

And again, if you do the math, any install before 2008-11-17 would have been
on 7.3, which is less than 5 years. Or, looking forward, I'm not expecting
7.4 will be supported beyond 2010 (there have already been calls to stop
supporting it for some time) which is what would be required if we really
have an expectation of support for more than 5 years.

--
Robert Treat
Build A Brighter LAMP :: Linux Apache {middleware} PostgreSQL