Re: 8.4 release planning (was Re: [COMMITTERS] pgsql: Automatic view update rules)

Dave Page <dpage(at)pgadmin(dot)org> writes:
> On Tue, Jan 27, 2009 at 3:40 PM, Tom Lane <tgl(at)sss(dot)pgh(dot)pa(dot)us> wrote:
>> I already pointed out some pretty serious problems with the updatable
>> views patch. Are you claiming they are trivial to fix?

> Not at all. I think the deferral of that particular patch is the
> correct thing to do because there are confirmed, real problems with it
> that are not realistic to fix in an appropriate timeframe for the
> release. The primary case that I'm objecting to is HS which you've
> been saying will take 10 - 12 months to complete having by your own
> admission not looked at the code or followed the discussion
> particularly closely.

Well, perhaps I'm being pessimistic, or perhaps you're being
optimistic. What is undeniable fact is that HS will not be committable
this week, which will make it three months since feature freeze.
As for when it *will* be committable --- Heikki is saying two weeks
if no new problems crop up, but given the rate at which new problems
have been found so far, what are the odds of that? We've seen this
movie before.

Since it's going to take us two weeks to clean up the other loose ends
anyway, there's no harm in letting Simon and Heikki try to complete the
patch by then. But I'll happily lay a side bet with you about what the
situation will be two weeks from now.

Even if the improbable happens and there's an apparently bug-free patch
ready in two weeks, I think it would be far better project management to
have it go in at the beginning of the 8.5 cycle than at the tail end of
8.4. This is a major patch that has very real possibilities for
breaking plain old crash recovery, even for users not using HS. The
idea of shipping it with only a minimal amount of testing should scare
the pants off you.

regards, tom lane