Re: trouble caused by change in 7.3 handling of '' in

Larry Rosenman wrote:
>
>
> --On Thursday, December 19, 2002 09:57:15 -0800 Barry Lind
> <blind(at)xythos(dot)com> wrote:
>
>>
>> Larry Rosenman wrote:
>> >
>> > The issue isn't whether the app is broken or not, (it is), but the
>> fact
>> > that we
>> > ****CHANGED**** behavior with ****NO**** notice and no way to keep the
>> > app working on
>> > the current release without MAJOR changes to the app. (some apps just
>> > have it so ingrained
>> > in them).
>> >
>> > We ***SHOULD*** have noticed the user community, and had a transition
>> plan. >
>> > This should be a lesson to us to be more sensitive to applications out
>> > there, and
>> > give NOTICE about compatibility issues.
>> >
>>
>> Isn't that what beta is for? - For app developers to test their apps
>> against the new version to discover problems/issues before the production
>> release. If this had been brought up during the beta period there may
>> well have been a different outcome.
>
> I brought up at least ONE app that had issues during beta. and was
> told, "well, that's
> only one".......
>
>>
>> In general it is difficult to determine whether any particular change
>> will impact app developers. And this problem isn't unique to postgres.
>> I can't remember a major Oracle upgrade that hasn't broken my
>> applications in some way. The difference with Oracle is that I don't
>> find out until the new release is production, whereas with postgres I
>> ensure that I am testing with all the betas and getting any issues
>> resolved before it goes production.
>
> I noticed some oddities with my TEST RT, but didn't tie them to the 7.3
> change.
>
> So, there was at least notice during the beta, but I was told to go away
> (essentially).
>

And given one report of a problem, I think that was the correct
response. I don't think it is wise to add a GUC parameter for every
change that impacts one person/one app. However if multiple people had
reported the same problem and the impact of the change was clearly
understood to negatively impact a large number of users then I am sure a
GUC parameter would have been added a while ago.

The point I was trying to make is that there were probably a hundred
changes between 7.2 and 7.3 that could have impacted apps, some
intentional changes, others not (and it wouldn't make sense to add
parameters for all of them). Deciding which of these have a significant
impact on existing apps is part of what the beta period is for. The
more people that test their apps during the beta period the better
change we won't have issues like this in the future.

thanks,
--Barry