From: Tom Lane <tgl@sss.pgh.pa.us>
To: Joe Conway <mail@joeconway.com>
cc: Peter Eisentraut <peter@eisentraut.org>,
        Dmitry Dolgov <9erthalion6@gmail.com>, pgsql-hackers@postgresql.org
Subject: Re: System views for versions reporting
In-reply-to: <adb7b7e8-7ffb-4afd-bb38-a0c0c2351485@joeconway.com>
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Comments: In-reply-to Joe Conway <mail@joeconway.com>
	message dated "Wed, 16 Oct 2024 09:31:58 -0400"
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Date: Wed, 16 Oct 2024 10:35:40 -0400
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Joe Conway <mail@joeconway.com> writes:
> On 10/16/24 08:47, Peter Eisentraut wrote:
>> That way, you can get this information without having to start a server
>> instance.  (Maybe you can't start a server instance because it just
>> crashed because of some library version issue ...)

> While it is also useful to be able to get the info without being able to 
> start the server, I think that would be an addition not a replacement. 
> When you have a fleet with no direct access to run shell commands, being 
> able to get this info via SQL is valuable.

Yeah.  In addition, I envisioned that this might include information
that's only readily available at runtime.  Don't have a concrete
example at hand (-ENOCAFFEINE) but I think that --version is
necessarily going to be exceedingly constrained in what it can do.

Another problem is that, just like with version(), there is already
code making assumptions about what --version will output.  Most of
that is under our control, but perhaps not all.  The main value
of a new system view, IMV, is that it's a completely green field
for us to define the contents of.

			regards, tom lane