well, dropped in the latest not-yet-released version doesn't really make it 'deprecated for quite some time'. if this has been the long term intention, the docs should have reflected this some revisions back.
True. The fact that the reported issue has been around for a very long time without anybody caring to fix it is though.
I still think the Windows packagers (<cough>EnterpriseDB</cough>) should have a client-only package which has options to just install the libs, or the libs + client utils (psql, pg_dump/restore/dumpall and optionally pg_admin). I realize that this wouldn't be /that/ much smaller than the whole 9 yards, but its a psychological thing for the end user, they think of the server as 'heavy', also would be good for automated client deployments in business envirnoments.
That's a different thing though, and I agree that this would be useful.