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From: Aleksander Alekseev <aleksander@tigerdata.com>
Date: Thu, 23 Oct 2025 12:55:01 +0300
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Subject: Re: Add uuid_to_base32hex() and base32hex_to_uuid() built-in
 functions
To: pgsql-hackers <pgsql-hackers@postgresql.org>
Cc: Sergey Prokhorenko <sergeyprokhorenko@yahoo.com.au>
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Hi Sergey,

> I'm writing to propose adding two new built-in functions to PostgreSQL that provide compact UUID encoding using the base32hex format.

Firstly, cc:'ing a few dozens of people is not the best way to get
attention to your patch. Please don't do this.

Secondly, in order to propose a patch please use `git format-patch`
and send it as an attachment. Then register it on the nearest open
commitfest [1].

The interface you are proposing is ugly and is not composable. The
right way of doing this IMO would be:

1. Implement uuid -> bytea and bytea -> uuid casting
2. Implement encode(bytea, 'base32') and decode(text, 'base32')

So the overall interface should be like this:

SELECT encode(uuidv7() :: bytea, 'base32');

The value of converting uuid to base32 is not obvious though, so I
would recommend explaining it in more detail. Consider starting a new
thread for each separate patch.

[1]: https://commitfest.postgresql.org/
-- 
Best regards,
Aleksander Alekseev