Re: Database Design: Maintain Audit Trail of Changes

>    For several reasons (including operational and legal) once data are
> entered in a table they cannot be changed or deleted without an audit
> trail of the change, when it occurred, who made the change, and the
> reason for it.

Besides the need for storing additional information that the user who
modifies the data may be required to enter manually, couldn't the
function of simply tracking what was inserted, updated and deleted be
implemented by an "eternal" transaction log that never gets purged, but
regularly archived in partitions, PGP-signed (with a qualified key) if
required to prove authenticity?

After all, PostgreSQL maintains this automatically anyway, so why not
use it?

TIA,

Sincerely,

Wolfgang