Re: Proposal: new file format for hba/ident/hosts configuration?

On Sat, Jul 11, 2026 at 5:43 AM Andrew Dunstan <andrew(at)dunslane(dot)net> wrote:
> On Thu, Jul 9, 2026 at 5:43 PM Jacob Champion <jacob(dot)champion(at)enterprisedb(dot)com> wrote:
>>
>> On Thu, Jul 9, 2026 at 2:19 PM Andrew Dunstan <andrew(at)dunslane(dot)net> wrote:
>> >> Freeze the parsing of old-style files; new features and changes go only in the new format. This should eliminate (well, almost eliminate) the maintenance burden associated with having two file formats.
>> >
>> > That's the scenario Tom warned against upthread.
>>
>> But if, hypothetically, a new format were indeed a big improvement for
>> people, it's probably what we should do.
>
> I think the bar is going to be fairly high. And just jumping to a new format is going to create a world of pain for users.

I agree, but we switched what we were talking about -- I was just
agreeing with Isaac that we could freeze the old format.

> We'd need to carry the old format for a while as well, I think, and also provide some conversion tools.

Yeah. I've been pretty impressed with what other ecosystems have been
able to do with automated migration tools. If it's decided that a new
format is going to be useful for the community, I think we should look
to those projects for ideas.

Thanks,
--Jacob