Re: Versioning policy and pg_upgrade

Thom Brown <thom(at)linux(dot)com> writes:
> But I propose expanding it to read:

> "Major releases usually change the internal format of system tables
> and data files. These changes are often complex, so we don't maintain
> backward compatibility for data files. A dump/reload of the database
> cluster is required for major upgrades for upgrading from 8.2 or
> earlier. For upgrading from version 8.3 and later, there is the
> option to use pg_upgrade (also known as pg_migrator prior to version
> 9.0), capable of in-place upgrades. This means, for example, you can
> upgrade any minor version of 8.3 to 8.4 without having to perform a
> full backup and restore, resulting in a significantly faster upgrade."

> Too wordy?

I don't really think that pg_upgrade should be recommended for 8.3 to
8.4 upgrades. There are too many limitations and it's not been well
tested. I don't even trust it very much yet for 8.4 to 9.0 updates...

regards, tom lane