Re: future of serial and identity columns

On Tue, 2022-10-04 at 09:41 +0200, Peter Eisentraut wrote:
> In PostgreSQL 10, we added identity columns, as an alternative to serial
> columns (since 6.something).  They mostly work the same.  Identity
> columns are SQL-conforming, have some more features (e.g., overriding
> clause), and are a bit more robust in schema management.  Some of that
> was described in [0].  AFAICT, there have been no complaints since that
> identity columns lack features or are somehow a regression over serial
> columns.
>
> But clearly, the syntax "serial" is more handy, and most casual examples
> use that syntax.  So it seems like we are stuck with maintaining these
> two variants in parallel forever.  I was thinking we could nudge this a
> little by remapping "serial" internally to create an identity column
> instead.  At least then over time, the use of the older serial
> mechanisms would go away.

I think that would be great.
That might generate some confusion among users who follow old tutorials
and are surprised that the eventual table definition differs, but I'd say
that is a good thing.

Yours,
Laurenz Albe