Should pg_dump refuse to run if DB has different version?

From: Tom Lane <tgl(at)sss(dot)pgh(dot)pa(dot)us>
To: pgsql-hackers(at)postgreSQL(dot)org
Subject: Should pg_dump refuse to run if DB has different version?
Date: 2000-04-03 18:48:23
Message-ID: 25256.954787703@sss.pgh.pa.us
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If you run 6.5 pg_dump against a 7.0 database, or vice versa,
you get very obscure error messages:
parseNumericArray: too many numbers
getInherits(): SELECT failed. Explanation from backend: 'ERROR: Attribute 'inhrel' not found
(Quick, guess which is which ... you'll probably guess wrong.)

It's too late to do anything about the behavior of 6.5 pg_dump,
but we could change 7.0 and later pg_dump to check the database
version at startup and refuse to run if it's not the expected value.

A downside is that a pg_dump might refuse to dump a DB that it actually
would work with; that could be a pain in the neck, particularly in
development scenarios where you might not have kept the previous
compilation of pg_dump lying around. Yet I think I prefer that to the
risk of an insidious incompatibility that causes pg_dump to run without
complaint yet generate a bogus dump.

Comments anyone?

regards, tom lane

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