Re: Three weeks left until feature freeze

On 7/13/06, Tom Lane <tgl(at)sss(dot)pgh(dot)pa(dot)us> wrote:
> The only argument I find interesting for including the PLs in core
> (which has zilch to do with how any particular packager ships them)
> is that it's easier to do maintenance that way: if we make a change in
> an API that affects the PLs, we can change the PLs at the same time.

Very true.

> However, that argument only holds water if the core developers are
> able/willing to make the corresponding changes.

Again, this is very true as well.

> in that light, the fact that PL/Java includes a huge whack of
> non-C code is very significant. *I* won't take responsibility
> for fixing PL/Java when I break it, because I don't know Java
> well enough.

I don't think anyone expects you to. I certainly feel that PostgreSQL
is a community... we all suffer if no one steps up to help fix
something that's busted. We all rely on eachother in one way or
another, and I don't see something as important as a fairly mature PL
getting dumped on anyone... there's a lot of Java people out there
that could maintain it if Thomas doesn't want to someday, or we can
remove it altogether if it starts to compromise the core... but I see
a lot of work that's been done over several years and Thomas has
stepped up to the plate each time there has been some incompatibility
or issue between PostgreSQL and PL/Java; I see no reason why this
wouldn't be the case going forward.

> I don't know what other people who do core development feel
> about that --- but I dislike the idea that when someone changes
> such an API, the buildfarm will go all red because there's only
> one person with the ability to fix PL/Java.

There's many of us that *can* fix it... I'm a Java developer as well,
but I wouldn't choose to work on PL/Java by default because that's not
my area of interest. If, however, the core was suffering from an
issue with it, personal interests aren't as relevant.

Again, we all rely on one another... I'm optimistic that we can make
these types of things work out successfully.

--
Jonah H. Harris, Software Architect | phone: 732.331.1300
EnterpriseDB Corporation | fax: 732.331.1301
33 Wood Ave S, 2nd Floor | jharris(at)enterprisedb(dot)com
Iselin, New Jersey 08830 | http://www.enterprisedb.com/