While we are arguing about whether this patch deserves to live or not,
may I point out that CVS tip is broken?
make[3]: Leaving directory `/home/postgres/pgsql/src/backend/catalog'
grep -v '^host.*::1.*ffff:ffff:ffff:ffff:ffff:ffff' \
./libpq/pg_hba.conf.sample \
> ./libpq/pg_hba.conf.sample.no_ipv6
/bin/sh ../../config/install-sh -c -m 644 ./libpq/pg_hba.conf.sample.no_ipv6
/home/postgres/testversion/share/pg_hba.conf.sample
/bin/sh ../../config/install-sh -c -m 644 ./libpq/pg_service.conf.sample
/home/postgres/testversion/share/pg_service.conf.sample
install: ./libpq/pg_service.conf.sample does not exist
make[2]: *** [install] Error 1
make[2]: Leaving directory `/home/postgres/pgsql/src/backend'
make[1]: *** [install] Error 2
make[1]: Leaving directory `/home/postgres/pgsql/src'
make: *** [install] Error 2
regards, tom lane