Subject: Re: [HACKERS] 7.5 release notes
From: Simon Riggs <simon@2ndquadrant.com>
To: Bruce Momjian <pgman@candle.pha.pa.us>
Cc: PostgreSQL-development <pgsql-hackers@postgresql.org>,
	PostgreSQL-documentation <pgsql-docs@postgresql.org>
In-Reply-To: <200407250425.i6P4PhI29389@candle.pha.pa.us>
References: <200407250425.i6P4PhI29389@candle.pha.pa.us>
Content-Type: text/plain
Organization: 2nd Quadrant
Message-Id: <1090752623.3057.284.camel@localhost.localdomain>
Mime-Version: 1.0
Date: Sun, 25 Jul 2004 11:50:23 +0100
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On Sun, 2004-07-25 at 05:25, Bruce Momjian wrote:
> I have completed the 7.5 release notes.  You can view them in HTML on
> the developer web page.  I have marked a few items with question marks
> that need to be addressed.  I am looking for improvements, even minor
> ones.  Either send in a patch or committers can modify the file
> directly.
> 

Looks good. These take time and effort, much appreciated.

Forward-looking phrases
=======================

Overall, I'd ask that we don't refer back to what earlier releases
didn't do, or whatever limitations they were thought to have.

If a release has "new feature X", everybody can work out it wasn't there
in the last release. The phrasing is delicate so you describe the new
thing without running down the old.

e.g. (1)

Previous releases required the Unix emulation toolkit Cygwin for Win32
support.

to 

The server no longer relies upon Cygwin for Unix emulation under win32.

e.g. (2) 

Prior release had no such capability; there was no way to recover from a
statement failure in a transaction.

to 

Should a statement fail inside a transaction, there is now a way to
handle this error and continue processing.

(Of course, somebody will let me know about my Brit-style passive voice,
I'm sure...)

Migration 
=========
These release notes refer to "GUC"s, whereas the previous release notes
and the manual refers to "server configuration parameters". I understand
the former, but prefer the latter description for these user-focused
notes.

Also, it might be worth mentioning that pg_dump itself has also been
substantially improved, and now provides an improved upgrade path for
existing users.

Here's my attempt at a short paragraph for PITR...

Point-In-Time Recovery enhances Data Resilience
        
PostgreSQL can now recover from total disk failure using backups and
transaction log archives. Recovery can be controlled to stop at a
specified point in time or at some transaction in the past. Transaction
log archiving is automated and calls a user-supplied external program to
allow integration with external backup devices and related software.

> Do people want a big-picture paragraph at the top talking about the
> release?  Some releases get them, some don't, but this one could if
> folks want it.
> 

Yes, thats a good idea.

Best Regards, Simon Riggs