Re: Call for 7.5 feature completion - Mailing list pgsql-hackers

Marc G. Fournier wrote:
> > A quick google of "7.4 Win32 release" will reveal that the above was
> > precisely what was said about 7.4: it would be released to not hold
> > up important features like the IN optimization and a quick 7.5 would
> > have Win32 and PITR. It's almost as if a cron job reposts this
> > thread every 6 - 12 months. For those of us that are desirous of
> > PITR, it's a 6 month reposting that is becoming painful to read...
> 
> k, let's think this through ... 7.4 was released, what, 6 months ago?  And
> 6 months later, PITR still isn't ready?  Is there some logic here that if
> 7.4 wasn't released, PITR would have been done any sooner?

Even though I was for a later feature freeze, Marc argument is
powerful.

There was talk that Win32 and PITR would be available right after 7.5
started development, and they weren't.  Instead it took several months
for Patrick and Tom to get JR's PITR/WAL patch into CVS, and then
another month or two for someone to appear and do the work of archiving
the files, then after discussion of implementation issues, it now needs
even more work.  Win32 has been on a steady course thanks to Claudio and
Magnus --- without them we would be nowhere near finished.  Nested
transactions were started in April and tablespaces in February, both
funded by Fujitsu.

Basically, maybe Marc is right that these features have to span multiple
releases.  Win32 spanned two releases (some of it was in 7.4).  PITR WAL
was initially done by JR just before 7.3 feature freeze, I think, but it
took all this time to get this far.

Basically, my big concern is "incremental improvement" releases, which I
feel describe our past few releases.  Yes, I said it.  I see items
listed above as critical to allowing PostgreSQL to move into more
significant roles in enterprises, and I am frustrated that it is taking
so long to happen.

What can be done?  Well, money from Fujitsu and other companies
(Afilias/Sloney, Command Prompt/ecpg-plPHP), is allowing us to hit some
of these bigger items, so hopefully that will move us forward in these
complex areas.  I am not sure what could have been done to push some of
these projects along faster.  I am happy Win32 had a steady pace of
improvement, but even now we are finishing up to the wire rather than
having it done months ago, but in hindsight, I am not sure what we could
have done differently.

So, yea, I am frustrated.  I know these features are hard and complex,
but I want them for PostgreSQL, and I want them as soon as possible.  I
guess what really bugs me is that we are so close to having these few
remaining big features, and because they are so complex, they are taking
a lot longer to arrive than previous features, and sometimes see a year
pass without progress on some items, and that bugs me.

--  Bruce Momjian                        |  http://candle.pha.pa.us pgman@candle.pha.pa.us               |  (610)
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