Horton

Re: More tzdb fun: POSIXRULES is being deprecated upstream

Peter Eisentraut <peter.eisentraut@2ndquadrant.com>

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From: Peter Eisentraut <peter.eisentraut@2ndquadrant.com>
To: Tom Lane <tgl@sss.pgh.pa.us>, Robert Haas <robertmhaas@gmail.com>
Cc: PostgreSQL Hackers <pgsql-hackers@lists.postgresql.org>
Date: 2020-06-25T13:08:48Z
Lists: pgsql-hackers 
On 2020-06-19 21:55, Tom Lane wrote:
> Yeah, we can do nothing in the back branches and hope that that doesn't
> happen for the remaining lifespan of v12.  But I wonder whether that
> doesn't amount to sticking our heads in the sand.
> 
> I suppose it'd be possible to have a release-note entry in the back
> branches that isn't tied to any actual code change on our part, but just
> warns that such a tzdata change might happen at some unpredictable future
> time.  That feels weird and squishy though; and people would likely have
> forgotten it by the time the change actually hits them.

In my mind, this isn't really that different from other external 
libraries making API changes.  But we are not going to forcibly remove 
Python 2 support in PostgreSQL 9.6 just because it's no longer supported 
upstream.  If Debian or RHEL $veryold want to keep maintaining Python 2, 
they are free to do so, and users thereof are free to continue using it. 
  Similarly, Debian or RHEL $veryold are surely not going to drop a 
whole class of time zone codes from their stable distribution just 
because upstream is phasing it out.

What you are saying is, instead of the OS dropping POSIXRULES support, 
it would be better if we dropped it first and release-noted that. 
However, I don't agree with the premise of that.  OSes with long-term 
support aren't going to drop it.

-- 
Peter Eisentraut              http://www.2ndQuadrant.com/
PostgreSQL Development, 24x7 Support, Remote DBA, Training & Services

Commits

  1. Remove support for timezone "posixrules" file.

  2. Future-proof regression tests against possibly-missing posixrules file.

  3. Doc: document POSIX-style time zone specifications in full.

  4. Please find attached diffs for documentation and simple regression