Dave Page wrote:
> On Thu, Apr 2, 2009 at 8:47 AM, Heikki Linnakangas
> <heikki.linnakangas@enterprisedb.com> wrote:
>
> >> As Dave Page pointed
> >> out, other people have already started designing tools based on CVS
> >> HEAD.
> >
> > Now is the time to decide, before the PostgreSQL beta is out. I understand
> > the pain inflicted on tools, but I don't think that's a good reason to not
> > change it. People using a beta version of pgAdmin will should understand
> > that it's not final yet and there can be small glitches like that.
>
> It's not about the changes the users see, it's about invalidating the
> testing that's been done on the tools & interfaces and requiring last
> minute changes to be made followed by re-testing. Because of the
> unpredictability of the PostgreSQL release timing, we need to work in
> advance of PostgreSQL to ensure tools are going to be ready on release
> day, because I'm sure you wouldn't want to delay to allow us to catch
> up. For a significant percentage of the users, having a working set of
> tools and interfaces with the server release is a essential.
We are having enough trouble getting to beta without having to concern
ourselves with what tools are using our API before beta; beta means
beta, meaning the interface is stable, but before that, anything can be
changed. If tool makers want a stable API before beta, they can ask for
that and we can debate it but I am not ready to have every change we
make pre-beta go through an API-change discussion.
We need to be sure we have an API at beta time that we can live with for
years, and having pre-beta tools affect that seems unwise; we have put
off API decisions assuming we have until beta to make them right.
If we don't have tools by beta release, then so be it; beta will be
long enough for sufficient testing before the final release.
-- Bruce Momjian <bruce@momjian.us> http://momjian.us EnterpriseDB
http://enterprisedb.com
+ If your life is a hard drive, Christ can be your backup. +