Re: Proof of concept COLLATE support with patch

Tom Lane <tgl@sss.pgh.pa.us>

From: Tom Lane <tgl@sss.pgh.pa.us>
To: Greg Stark <gsstark@mit.edu>
Cc: Martijn van Oosterhout <kleptog@svana.org>, pgsql-hackers@postgresql.org
Date: 2005-09-02T15:42:21Z
Lists: pgsql-hackers
Greg Stark <gsstark@mit.edu> writes:
> I still doesn't get where the hostility towards this functionality comes from.

We're not really willing to say "here is a piece of syntax REQUIRED
BY THE SQL SPEC which we only support on some platforms".  readline,
O_DIRECT, and the like are a completely inappropriate analogy, because
those are inherently platform-dependent (and not in the spec).

The objection is fundamentally that a platform-specific implementation
cannot be our long-term goal, and so expending effort on creating one
seems like a diversion.  If there were a plan put forward showing how
this is just a useful way-station, and we could see how we'd later get
rid of the glibc dependency without throwing away the work already done,
then it would be a different story.

			regards, tom lane