Re: Cannot dump 8.4.8 database using later versions

Robert Haas <robertmhaas(at)gmail(dot)com> writes:
> On Tue, Nov 15, 2011 at 5:16 AM, Heikki Linnakangas
> <heikki(dot)linnakangas(at)enterprisedb(dot)com> wrote:
>> NEW used to be a reserved keyword, but it's not so in 9.0 anymore. So 9.0
>> pg_dump thinks it doesn't need to be quoted.

> Why isn't it correct?

It's correct to not quote it in pg_dump's output (since we make no
promises that such output would load into a pre-9.0 server anyway).
The problem is that it needs to be quoted in commands that pg_dump
sends back to the 8.4 server. Example:

psql (8.4.9)
You are now connected to database "db84".
db84=# create table "new"( f1 int, "new" text);

... pg_dump with newer pg_dump ...

pg_dump: SQL command failed
pg_dump: Error message from server: ERROR: syntax error at or near "new"
LINE 1: COPY public.new (f1, new) TO stdout;
^
pg_dump: The command was: COPY public.new (f1, new) TO stdout;

The least painful solution might be to always quote *every* identifier
in commands sent to the source server, since we don't especially care
how nice-looking those are.

regards, tom lane