[postgis-devel] Devil Take the Hindmost?

[Mark Leslie]

Paul Ramsey wrote:
> Would it be too terrible to drop support for 7.4?
> 
> http://code.google.com/p/postgis/issues/detail?id=6
> 
> So many things got better with 8.X...
> 
> P.
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> 

Does anyone know offhand how much longer PostgreSQL is committed to 
maintaining 7.4?

It would seem to me that if they are maintaining 7.4 for a short period 
of time, call it < x, then we're better off supporting it until then, 
just for the look of it.  For > x, we should cut support as soon as the 
support becomes significant (today perhaps?).  From my perspective, x = 
1 year feels right, but it depends very much on how much development is 
expected on PostGIS in that year.
I haven't done the benchmarking, but I would expect running against 7.4 
would be less performant, and thus provide a lesser impression of 
PostGIS.  At the same time, telling everyone to upgrade their databases 
won't be received with a ticker-tape parade either.

My suggestion would be pick a date to end support.  The same time 
PostgreSQL does would be ideal, but if it's too far, give it a few 
months and cut a minor release at that time which explicitly prohibits 
compiling against 7.4.

-- 
Mark Leslie
Geospatial Software Architect
LISAsoft Pty Ltd
+61 (0)2 8570 5050