Re: [HACKERS] Contrib module "xml2" status

2013/2/22 Andrew Dunstan <andrew(at)dunslane(dot)net>:
>
> On 02/21/2013 12:56 PM, Magnus Hagander wrote:
>>
>> On Thu, Feb 21, 2013 at 6:39 PM, Robert Haas <robertmhaas(at)gmail(dot)com>
>> wrote:
>>>
>>> On Wed, Feb 20, 2013 at 11:58 AM, Ian Lawrence Barwick
>>> <barwick(at)gmail(dot)com> wrote:
>>>>
>>>> I'm not sure if this is a documentation or hackers issue, but the
>>>> documentation page for contrib module "xml2" refers to PostgreSQL 8.4 in
>>>> the
>>>> future tense:
>>>>
>>>> "It is planned that this module will be removed in PostgreSQL 8.4 in
>>>> favor of the newer standard API"
>>>>
>>>> http://www.postgresql.org/docs/devel/static/xml2.html
>>>>
>>>> Are there any plans to remove this module by a forseeable date?
>>>
>>> Nope. I have repeatedly been voted down on removing it, and I've also
>>> been repeatedly voted down on removing the deprecation text. Could we
>>> at least agree on changing the deprecation text to say "This module is
>>> deprecated and may be removed in a future release"?
>>
>> Not reopening the actual discussion about rmeoving it, but assuming
>> we're not, strong +1 on changing the deprecation message. And don't
>> forget to backpatch the change so it shows up in the old versions of
>> the docs as well.
>>
>
>
> Yes, we should change it to remove the reference to 8.4.

Documentation patch attached.

> The point is we can
> remove the module when someone fixes and replaces the functionality that's
> left in there that some people rely on. So far nobody has stepped up to the
> plate, although now that we have lateral a sane replacement for xpath_table
> might well be a lot easier to achieve. If someone is interested in working
> on this I'd be happy to hear about it. Maybe it would be a good Google SOC
> project.

It might be worth adding an explicit entry in the TODO list for removing this
and summarising what needs to be done.

https://wiki.postgresql.org/wiki/Todo#XML

Regards

Ian Barwick