Re: Roadmap for FE/BE protocol redesign

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

From: Tom Lane <tgl@sss.pgh.pa.us>
To: Rod Taylor <rbt@rbt.ca>
Cc: PostgreSQL Development <pgsql-hackers@postgresql.org>, pgsql-interfaces@postgresql.org
Date: 2003-03-10T19:30:22Z
Lists: pgsql-hackers
Rod Taylor <rbt@rbt.ca> writes:
> I'd be tempted to make a startup packet that will allow libpq to revert
> back to old protocols easily enough for the future so that we can do=20
> incremental changes to the protocol.

We already have that: you send a startup packet with a version less than
the latest, and the backend speaks that version to you.

One thing I want to do though is relax the protocol-level constraints
on certain message contents: for example, if ErrorMessage becomes a
collection of labeled fields, it should be possible to add new field
types without calling it a protocol revision.  The protocol need only
specify "ignore any fields whose label you do not recognize".

			regards, tom lane