Just voicing enthusiasm for the "cidr" thread:
Bruce is right on when he refers to this as "KILLER APP" - PostgreSQL
is a great tool for running administering a network. (I contributed a
couple smallish functions about a year ago to do simple address formatting
and in-subnet testing.) Especially when you mix in CVS for version
controlling config files and rsync+ssh for pushing them.
My preference is CIDR over INET or anything else for the type name.
Let's get IPv6 in while Paul is focused on us. Vixie's input is essential
for keeping us On The Right Track with this thing - I'd give him 100 votes
and the rest of us 1 each in all the debates. :-)
A data type is much more useful if it has enough supporting functions -
I too like the idea of a built-in (quasi-standard) way of extracting
host and class. The easier we make the type to use, the more people will
use it.
I think this is just the tip of the iceberg (others have hinted at this
too). PostgreSQL + CVS + rsync/ssh + apache makes one powerful net admin
system, but it's a tool chest with just the nuts and bolts. As we use
the new CIDR datatype, I hope we'll evolve a good, general set of tools
around the network database.