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Re: Why is there no object create date is the catalogs? - Mailing list pgsql-general

From Melvin Davidson
Subject Re: Why is there no object create date is the catalogs?
Date
Msg-id CANu8FixSsgVTkM89ApjTnjStE6iWQs=1cgomKfurWvcjgyhqsA@mail.gmail.com
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In response to Re: Why is there no object create date is the catalogs?  (Adrian Klaver <adrian.klaver@aklaver.com>)
Responses Re: Why is there no object create date is the catalogs?  (Tom Lane <tgl@sss.pgh.pa.us>)
Re: Why is there no object create date is the catalogs?  (Adrian Klaver <adrian.klaver@aklaver.com>)
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Adrian,

You are over thinking this. An object is only "created" once! That is what I meant by relcreatedate. If it is dropped, then it is deleted from the catalogs. If it is modified, then it does NOT affect the creation date. Everything else is superfluous.

It is also not unusual for tables to have an end of cycle in certain application, hence the need to be dropped after a certain time. EG. Tables that track data only for a specific year.

Since PostgreSQL already tracks when tables are vacuum, auto vacuumed, analyzed and auto analyzed ( pg_stat_all_tables ), I don't see why it is such a big deal ( or so hard ) to track when an object is created. It should be a very simple patch to the catalogs.

On Tue, May 12, 2015 at 6:00 PM, Adrian Klaver <adrian.klaver@aklaver.com> wrote:
On 05/12/2015 12:51 PM, Melvin Davidson wrote:

Can anyone tell me why there is no "relcreated" column in pg_class to
track the creation date of an object?

 Meant to add to my previous post, back before I 'discovered' version control I use to put the creation date in the table COMMENT:

http://www.postgresql.org/docs/9.4/interactive/sql-comment.html


It seems to me it would make sense to have one as it would facilitate
auditing of when objects are created. In addition, it would also
facilitate the dropping of objects that have exceeded a certain age.

EG: SELECT 'DELETE TABLE ' || relname || ';'
       FROM pg_class
      WHERE relkind = 'r'
        AND relcreated > current_timestamp - INTERVAL ' 1 year';

Adding that column should be relatively easy and would not break
backwards compatiblity with previous versions.
--
 *Melvin Davidson*


--
Adrian Klaver
adrian.klaver@aklaver.com



--
Melvin Davidson
I reserve the right to fantasize.  Whether or not you
wish to share my fantasy is entirely up to you.

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