Re: OID wraparound: summary and proposal

Fernando Nasser <fnasser(at)redhat(dot)com> writes:
> The wire protocol will always handle the (tableoid) long form,

I think you are handwaving away what is precisely the most painful
aspect. To allow 64-bit type OIDs in the wire protocol, we must
(a) have a protocol version jump, and (b) force all servers and all
client libraries to be 64-bit-capable. While I'm prepared to think
that "int8 is really only 32 bits wide" is tolerable within a single
server installation, I really don't want to deal with such headaches
between clients and servers. Can you imagine how hard it will be
to track down a bug that arises because one old client is dropping
the high-order bits of type OIDs? Only installations that had been
up for years would ever see a problem; how likely is it that anyone
would even remember that some of their clients were not 64-bit-ready?

When we're ready to make that jump, I think we should just move to
64 bit OIDs, full stop, no exceptions, no turning back, no "configure
time option", no backwards compatibility with old clients. Anything
else is a time bomb. I'd even be inclined to start running the OID
counter at 4-billion-plus-1, to help flush out anyplace that drops the
high half.

regards, tom lane