Re: pg_migrator issue with contrib

Bruce Momjian <bruce@momjian.us> writes:
> Let me list the problems with pg_migrator:

>     o  /contrib and plugin migration (not unique to pg_migrator)
>     o  you must read/follow the install instructions
>     o  might require post-migration table/index rebuilds
>     o  new so serious bugs might exist

I think that #1 and #4 could be substantially alleviated if the
instructions recommended doing a trial run with a schema-only dump
of the database.  That is,

* pg_dumpall -s
* load that into a test installation (of the *old* PG version)
* migrate the test installation to new PG version
* do the same sorts of applications compatibility checks you'd want to do anyway before a major version upgrade

This would certainly catch migration-time failures caused by plugins,
and the followup testing would probably catch any large post-migration
issue.

Somebody who is not willing to do this type of testing should not be
using pg_migrator (yet), and probably has not got a database large
enough to need it anyway.
        regards, tom lane