Re: Proposal: Store "timestamptz" of database creation on "pg_database"

Stephen Frost <sfrost(at)snowman(dot)net> writes:
> * Josh Berkus (josh(at)agliodbs(dot)com) wrote:
>> On 12/26/12 4:48 PM, Fabrzio de Royes Mello wrote:
>>> This proposal is about add a column "datcreated" on "pg_database" to store
>>> the "timestamp" of the database creation.

>> I agree that it would be useful. However, if we're going to get
>> into created dates, we should at least consider adding them to the
>> other catalogs, particularly pg_class.

> I was thinking more-or-less the same thing.

This has been debated, and rejected, before.

To mention just one problem, are we going to add nonstandard,
non-backwards-compatible syntax to every single kind of CREATE to allow
pg_dump to preserve the creation dates? Another interesting question is
whether we should likewise track the last ALTER time, or perhaps whether
a sufficiently major ALTER redefinition should update the creation time.

I'm inclined to think that anyone who really needs this should be
pointed at event triggers. That feature (if it gets in) will allow
people to track creation/DDL-change times with exactly the behavior
they want.

regards, tom lane