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From: Josh Berkus <josh@agliodbs.com>
Organization: PostgreSQL @ Sun
To: Peter Eisentraut <peter_e@gmx.net>
Subject: Re: Avoiding upgrade backlash
Date: Tue, 13 Nov 2007 08:06:27 -0800
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Peter,

> What difference would pg_dump make?

For many user's databases ... many more than any previous version after 
7.3 ... using the old version's pg_dump *will not load* into 8.3.  Unless you 
restore the casts.

> Well, if you want to undo the changes, you don't need a backport package;
> you can just change the cast's definition.

Right.  We've talked (on IRC) about putting together a package which restores 
the removed casts.

Given that Gentoo, Red Hat and SuSE don't support having multiple PostgreSQL 
versions on the system in their packaging, I'm thinking the "restore casts" 
package is essential rather than being a nice idea.

Should I be discussing this on a different list?

-- 
Josh Berkus
PostgreSQL @ Sun
San Francisco