"Matthew T. O'Connor" <matthew@zeut.net> writes:
> ... People just didn't like including libpq
> into the backend for reasons I don't remember.
One reason I can think of is that there would be global-symbol conflicts
--- libpq has copies of some backend routines, but they are not
identical.
In any case, the argument that's being made here is that an integrated
autovac would be simple and newbie-friendly. I think it's impossible
for a libpq-using autovac to ever be invisible to the DBA, if only
because he has to configure it with an appropriate username/password,
make sure pg_hba.conf will actually let it into every database, etc.
There are way too many foot-guns in that scenario for my taste.
regards, tom lane