Re: [PATCH] pgcrypto: implement gen_random_uuid

2014/1/9 Oskari Saarenmaa <os(at)ohmu(dot)fi>:
> The only useful feature of the uuid-ossp module in my opinion is the
> uuid_generate_v4 function and as uuid-ossp is more or less abandonware
> people have had trouble building and installing it. This patch implements
> an alternative uuid v4 generation function in pgcrypto which could be moved
> to core once there's a core PRNG with large enough internal state.

It is a small but very useful patch. Installing uuid-ossp can be very hard
on some systems. There is not much to review. The patch applies cleanly to
HEAD. The function is generating valid UUID version 4. The code and
the documentation style seems to fit in the pgcrypto extension. I am marking
it as "Ready for Commiter".

The problem is users probably would not look pgcrypto extension for
UUID generator, especially when there is another extension with uuid in
it's name. Also, UUID generator does not sound like a cryptographic function.
It would be much better, if this would be in core with the UUID type. There
is a reference on the UUID Type documentation page to the uuid-ossp
extension. We can add a reference to pgcrypro extension in that page and
consider adding a deprecation note to the uuid-ossp extension, if is is not
possible to add the function to the core, for now.