Re: When to drop src/tools/msvc support

On Mon, Apr 10, 2023 at 6:56 PM Tom Lane <tgl(at)sss(dot)pgh(dot)pa(dot)us> wrote:
>
> Robert Haas <robertmhaas(at)gmail(dot)com> writes:
> > However, if this is the direction we're going, we probably need to
> > give pgsql-packagers a heads up ASAP, because anybody who is still
> > relying on the MSVC system to build Windows binaries is presumably
> > going to need some time to adjust. If we rip out the build system
> > somebody is using a couple of weeks before beta, that might make it
> > difficult for that person to get the beta out promptly. And I think
> > there's probably more than just EDB who would be in that situation.
>
> Oh ... that's a good point. Is there anyone besides EDB shipping
> MSVC-built executables? Would it even be practical to switch to
> meson with a month-or-so notice? Seems kind of tight, and it's
> not like the packagers volunteered to make this switch.
>
> Maybe we have to bite the bullet and keep MSVC for v16.
> If we drop it as soon as v17 opens, there's probably not that
> much incremental work involved compared to dropping for v16.

Not involved with any such build tasks anymore, but I think we can
definitely assume there are others than EDB who do that. It's also
used by people who build add-on modules to be loaded in the
EDB-installer-installed systems, I'm sure.

It seems a bit aggressive to those to drop the entire build system out
just before beta.

Thus, +1 on actually keeping it up and dropping it immediately as v17
opens, giving them a year of advantage. And probably updating the docs
(if anybody were to read them.. but at least then we tried) stating
that it's deprecated and will be removed in v17.

--
Magnus Hagander
Me: https://www.hagander.net/
Work: https://www.redpill-linpro.com/