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From: Magnus Hagander <magnus@hagander.net>
Date: Thu, 8 Jun 2023 13:10:00 +0200
Message-ID: <CABUevEw=fejUYyDT5bo0Na67PQTunQ39AS81UML2crrFThJwow@mail.gmail.com>
Subject: Re: win32ver data in meson-built postgres.exe
To: Noah Misch <noah@leadboat.com>
Cc: Andres Freund <andres@anarazel.de>, pgsql-hackers@postgresql.org
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On Thu, Jun 8, 2023 at 3:45=E2=80=AFAM Noah Misch <noah@leadboat.com> wrote=
:
>
> On Wed, Jun 07, 2023 at 04:47:26PM -0700, Andres Freund wrote:
> > On 2023-06-07 16:14:07 -0700, Noah Misch wrote:
> > > A postgres.exe built with meson, ninja, and MSVC lacks the version me=
tadata
> > > that postgres.exe gets under non-meson build systems.  Patch attached=
.
> >
> > I dimly recall that we discussed that and basically decided that it doe=
sn't
> > really make sense to attach this information to postgres.exe.
>
> I looked for a discussion behind that, but I didn't find it.  A key
> user-visible consequence is whether the task manager "Name" column shows =
(1)
> "PostgreSQL Server" (version data present) vs. (2) "postgres.exe" (no ver=
sion
> data).  While (2) is not terrible, (1) is more typical on Windows.  I don=
't
> see cause to migrate to (2) after N years of sending (1).  Certainly this=
 part
> of the user experience should not depend on one's choice of build system.

+1, both on that it should be the same across build systems, and that
the variant that we have in the msvc build system is the best one.

And if we don't have the version structure in it, it will cause issues
for installers (I think) and software inventory processes (definitely)
that also use that.

I don't recall a discussion about removing it, but it's not unlikely I
missed it if it did take place...


> > >     This preserves two quirks of the older build systems.  First,
> > >     postgres.exe is icon-free.
> >
> > We could also just change that.
>
> I would be +1 for that (only if done for all build systems).  Showing the
> elephant in task manager feels better than showing the generic-exe icon.

I think this decision goes back all the way to the ancient times, and
the argument was then "user should not use the postgres.exe file when
clicking around" sort of. Back then, task manager didn't show the icon
at all, regardless. It does now, so I'm +1 to add the icon (in all the
build systems).

--=20
 Magnus Hagander
 Me: https://www.hagander.net/
 Work: https://www.redpill-linpro.com/