Re: Minor version upgrades and extension packaging

Mat Arye <mat(at)timescale(dot)com> writes:
> We recently found that people who had compiled the TimescaleDB extension
> against 10.1 (or installed our binary versions via yum, apt, etc.) had
> their extension break when they upgraded to 10.2 due to changes of some
> underlying structs between the two minor versions.
> In particular, in the commit
> https://git.postgresql.org/gitweb/?p=postgresql.git;a=commitdiff;h=1597948c962a1407c01fc492c44917c097efa92e
> the structure of the ColumnDef struct changed.

BTW, while there was surely not a huge amount of daylight between that
commit on 2 Feb and the 10.2 wrap on 5 Feb, there was enough time to have
fixed the problem given prompt feedback. I suggest that Timescale would
be well advised to set up a buildfarm animal that has an additional module
to run basic binary-compatibility testing against your extension in the
back branches. I don't know a lot about writing additional test modules
for the buildfarm script, but it's definitely possible. Andrew Dunstan
might be able to offer more specific advice.

regards, tom lane