Hi Christopher and thanks very mush.

I guess what I'm really wondering is how much longer you would expect (and 
of course I understand that things change) is how much longer 7.4.x would 
be supported.  I was thinking if 7.3 -> 7.4 was a big change but 7.4 -> 
newer was not it might be a while longer.  So that's why my question was 
badly asked...


--On Thursday, December 01, 2005 4:27 PM -0500 Christopher Browne 
<cbbrowne at ca.afilias.info> wrote:

> Jim Archer wrote:
>
>> Hi Christopher...
>>
>> --On Wednesday, November 30, 2005 6:16 PM -0500 Christopher Browne
>> <cbbrowne at ca.afilias.info> wrote:
>>
>>>> Will older versions of Postgres continue to be supported by Slony?
>>>
>>>
>>> Until we have compelling reason to break off compatibility.
>>>
>>> I'd like to drop 7.3, as its namespace handling and name quoting
>>> handling is too often painfully different from the later releases.  But
>>> nothing has been *so* compelling as to make it really worthwhile to
>>> do so.
>>
>>
>> Thanks for the reply.  The reason I ask is because the packaged
>> version of Postgres on the currently stable Debian release (Sarge
>> Debian 1:3.3.5-12) is version 7.4.7.  It is possible to run a newer
>> Postgres on Sarge of course, but doing so can complicate maintenance
>> and future upgrads of the operating system.  Debian is pretty popular
>> due to its stability, which of course often leave it a bit behind the
>> curve.
>>
>> Is supporting all the 7.x series releases difficult, or just 7.3.x?
>
> It's somewhat 7.3.x; there were considerable changes between 7.3 and 7.4
> in terms of:
>  a) Name space handling
>  b) Quoting of names
>
> Rod Taylor reported on having hacked Slony-I into a form that let him do
> an upgrade from 7.2 to 7.4; he only kept it working in that form long
> enough to get the upgrade done, at which point he killed off the "scary
> hack" and dropped out the 7.2 nodes.  It seems to me that that is a
> highly appropriate way to treat 7.3, as well; if you're on 7.3, today,
> you should be planning to upgrade to something *WAY* newer, likely 8.1,
> and plan to use Slony-I as a way to get off of it.
>
> I'll disagree a little bit with Jan in one regard...  It is desirable
> for Slony-I to support some old versions of PostgreSQL longer than PGDG
> does in order to give people on those versions an upgrade path.  But to
> be sure, once there is a compelling reason (and to my mind, it should be
> one of functionality that we want that isn't supportible in 7.3) to drop
> 7.3, we will do so.
>
> But as I mentioned in the earlier email, there IS an upgrade path, by
> using the "mature" versions of Slony-I that might not still be
> supported, but that will still work, to get from a "no longer supported"
> version of PostgreSQL to one that is supported (both by PGDG and by the
> Slony-I team).  So I won't feel any IMMENSE guilt whatever is the point
> in time that Slony-I desupports 7.3...
>
>