Re: Extensibility of the PostgreSQL wire protocol

On Mon, Feb 22, 2021 at 1:01 PM Tom Lane <tgl(at)sss(dot)pgh(dot)pa(dot)us> wrote:

> Jan Wieck <jan(at)wi3ck(dot)info> writes:
> > As Jim Mlodgenski just posted in [0], having the ability to also extend
> > and/or replace the parser will give them the ability to do just that.
>
> Yeah, and as I pointed out somewhere upthread, trying to replace the
> whole parser will just end in a maintenance nightmare. The constructs
> that the parser has to emit are complex, Postgres-specific, and
> constantly evolving. We are NOT going to promise any sort of cross
> version compatibility for parse trees.
>

Wholeheartedly agreed. Core should only ever maintain the hooks, never
their usage. It's the responsibility of the extension author to maintain
their code just as it is to manage their use of all other hook usages. Yes,
it's sometimes a maintenance nightmare - but with great power comes great
responsibility... as is anything loaded directly into the process.

--
Jonah H. Harris