Re: BUG #13687: bug in row_to_json function with '-infinity' timestamp

On Mon, Oct 19, 2015 at 11:22:58AM -0400, David G. Johnston wrote:
> Well, the output I see is:
>
>         SELECT row_to_json(t)
>         FROM (SELECT '-infinity'::timestamptz) t ;
>                 row_to_json
>         ----------------------------
>          {"timestamptz":"infinity"}
>
> I assume the user expects positive infinity.
>
>
> ​The user is expecting negative infinity...which I agree with.

Sorry, yeah, I meant negative infinity.

> Release notes do indicate this incompatibility:
> >>>
> When converting values of type date, timestamp or timestamptz to JSON, render
> the values in a format compliant with ISO 8601 (Andrew Dunstan)
>
> Previously such values were rendered according to the current DateStyle
> setting; but many JSON processors require timestamps to be in ISO 8601 format.
> If necessary, the previous behavior can be obtained by explicitly casting the
> datetime value to text before passing it to the JSON conversion function.
> ​>>>​
>
> ​But since ISO 8601 doesn't define infinity our implementation of this behavior
> is not externally constrained and probably shouldn't be changed.

Well, if infinity is not defined, we can output whatever seems logical,
and returning +infinity for -infinity seems illogical.

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