Re: CSV mode option for pg_dump

Good point.  The number of CSV options would be hard to support for
pg_dump.  Any thoughts from anyone on how to do that cleanly?  Could we
just support the default behavior?

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Tom Lane wrote:
> "Andrew Dunstan" <andrew@dunslane.net> writes:
> > I wish I could understand why people are so keen to make other people turn
> > handsprings in order to avoid a feature which, as Bruce points out, is
> > already on the TODO list, and which, by my 10 minute analysis, would involve
> > almost trivial code impact and risk. If this involved major impact I might
> > understand, but it really doesn't.
> 
> Supporting all of the CSV options in pg_dump would involve major bloat
> in its option set, and it already has far too many options.  If it were
> just a matter of adding a "--csv" switch I wouldn't be complaining, but
> there are half a dozen more sub-options, and it seems like every time we
> turn around someone is finding a reason for another one.  Propagating
> all that cruft through pg_dump would be a PITA, and updating it to track
> future additions would be too.
> 
> Furthermore, the entire rationale for the feature is predicated on the
> claim that programs other than pg_restore might find it useful.  But
> this conveniently ignores the fact that if there are any such programs
> in existence, what this will really do is BREAK them, because they won't
> be able to cope with all the variants that pass for CSV.
> 
> My opinions would be less negative if I thought that CSV were a
> well-defined format that would never change.  I don't believe that it
> has either property, however, and so I'm against letting it get into our
> dump file format.  I think we'll just live to regret it if we do.
> 
>             regards, tom lane
> 
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--  Bruce Momjian   http://candle.pha.pa.us EnterpriseDB    http://www.enterprisedb.com
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