Re: pg_amcheck contrib application

Noah Misch <noah(at)leadboat(dot)com> writes:
> On Sat, Mar 13, 2021 at 01:36:11AM -0500, Tom Lane wrote:
>> I don't mind updating the perl installations on prairiedog and gaur,
>> but Noah might have some difficulty with his AIX flotilla, as I believe
>> he's not sysadmin there.

> The AIX animals have Perl v5.28.1. hoverfly, in particular, got a big update
> package less than a month ago. Hence, I doubt it's a question of applying
> routine updates. The puzzle would be to either (a) compile a 32-bit Perl that
> handles unpack('q') or (b) try a PostgreSQL configuration like "./configure
> ... PROVE='perl64 /usr/bin/prove --'" to run the TAP suites under perl64.
> (For hoverfly, it's enough to run "prove" under $PERL. mandrill, however,
> needs a 32-bit $PERL for plperl, regardless of what it needs for "prove".)
> Future AIX packagers would face doing the same.

Yeah. prairiedog and gaur are both frankenstein systems: some of the
software components are years newer than the underlying OS. So I don't
mind changing them further; in the end they're both in the buildfarm
for reasons of hardware diversity, not because they represent platforms
anyone would run production PG on. On the other hand, those AIX animals
represent systems that are still considered production grade (no?), so
we have to be willing to adapt to them not vice versa.

> With v5-0001-pg_amcheck-continuing-to-fix-portability-problems.patch being so
> self-contained, something like it is the way to go.

I'm only concerned about whether the all-zero value causes any
significant degradation in test quality. Probably Peter G. would
have the most informed opinion about that.

regards, tom lane