For logical replication, there is a frequent need to automatically delete all objects (including publications) on replicas that are no longer needed. This requirement comes from a common use case in logical replication, which is to replicate only a subset of database objects.
I don't see us implementing an API to provide an alternative to "ALL TABLES"...
Personally, I am uncertain about the use case for retaining only some of the publications while dropping others.
To assume there is nothing between All or None seems unwise even if we cannot imagine what that may be.
Besides, I am unsure if the rationale behind pg_upgrade's output script is applicable here.
Yeah, I probably shouldn't have mentioned it. I don't need it to explain or support my case.
I think the option proposed in this thread is not to handle the version mismatch between the publisher and the subscriber.
Certainly not given that this requires a physical standby as a base and those are not cross-major-version capable.
Overall, I favor automatically deleting publications rather than offering a script for manual execution.
I'm done arguing the counter-point to this. I cannot give this a +1 unless the DBA is given a chance to review and edit the drop commands that we create. But as of now I'm in the minority and this has a committer willing to proceed without this capability. I take some comfort in that it seems at least if they use --dry-run they can see what objects will be dropped. But the editor capability seems more useful. There is always v19 and beyond; at least nothing here precludes adding such a feature in the future.
