Re: Re: COPY BINARY file format proposal

From: Tom Lane <tgl(at)sss(dot)pgh(dot)pa(dot)us>
To: pgsql-hackers(at)postgresql(dot)org
Subject: Re: Re: COPY BINARY file format proposal
Date: 2000-12-13 04:56:22
Message-ID: 8159.976683382@sss.pgh.pa.us
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ncm(at)zembu(dot)com (Nathan Myers) writes:
> I don't know if you get the point of the fixed-size comment field.
> The idea was that a comment could be poked into an existing COPY
> image, after it was written.

Yes, I did get the point ...

> A variable-size comment field in an
> already-written image might leave no space to poke in anything. A
> variable-size comment field with a required minimum size would
> satisfy both needs, at some cost in complexity.

This strikes me as a perfect argument for a variable-size field.
If you want to leave N bytes for a future poked-in comment, you do that.
If you don't, then not. Leaving 128 bytes (or any other frozen-by-the-
file-format number) is guaranteed to satisfy nobody.

regards, tom lane

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