Re: Something for the TODO list: deprecating abstime and friends

> On Jul 17, 2017, at 2:34 PM, Mark Dilger <hornschnorter@gmail.com> wrote:
> 
>> 
>> On Jul 17, 2017, at 2:14 PM, Tom Lane <tgl@sss.pgh.pa.us> wrote:
>> 
>> Mark Dilger <hornschnorter@gmail.com> writes:
>>>> On Jul 17, 2017, at 12:54 PM, Mark Dilger <hornschnorter@gmail.com> wrote:
>>> On Jul 15, 2017, at 3:00 PM, Tom Lane <tgl@sss.pgh.pa.us> wrote:
>>>>> The types abstime, reltime, and tinterval need to go away, or be
>>>>> reimplemented, sometime well before 2038 when they will overflow.
>> 
>>>> These types provide a 4-byte datatype for storing real-world second
>>>> precision timestamps, as occur in many log files.  Forcing people to
>>>> switch to timestamp or timestamptz will incur a 4 byte per row
>>>> penalty.  In my own builds, I have changed the epoch on these so
>>>> they won't wrap until sometime after 2100 C.E.  I see little point in
>>>> switching to an 8-byte millisecond precision datatype when a perfectly
>>>> good 4-byte second precision datatype already serves the purpose.
>> 
>> Well, if you or somebody is willing to do the legwork, I'd be on board
>> with a plan that says that every 68 years we redefine the origin of
>> abstime.  I imagine it could be done so that currently-stored abstime
>> values retain their present meaning as long as they're not too old.
>> For example the initial change would toss abstimes before 1970 overboard,
>> repurposing that range of values as being 2038-2106, but values between
>> 1970 and 2038 still mean the same as they do today.  If anybody still
>> cares in circa 2085, we toss 1970-2038 overboard and move the origin
>> again, lather rinse repeat.
>> 
>> But we're already past the point where it would be time to make the
>> first such switch, if we're gonna do it.  So I'd like to see somebody
>> step up to the plate sooner not later.
> 
> Assuming other members of the community would not object to such
> a plan, I'd be willing to step up to that plate.  I'll wait a respectable time,
> maybe until tomorrow, to allow others to speak up.

There was not much conversation about this, so I went ahead with what
I think makes a logical first step.  The attached patch removes the tinterval
datatype from the sources.

I intend to remove reltime next, and then make the changes to abstime in
a third patch.

mark