Hi Dianjin, +1 — I agree with disabling PAX by default for the reasons you outlined. Keeping it consistent with how other contrib modules are handled makes a lot of sense, and avoiding potential build issues is always a plus.
On a related note, now that PAX is merged, how do you envision it being incorporated into the user documentation? Will there be a dedicated section under optional extensions or something integrated into the standard build/setup guide with notes on --enable-pax and submodule fetching? Would be great to make sure users have a clear path if they do want to opt in. Thanks, -=e -- Ed Espino Apache Cloudberry (Incubating) & MADlib On Thu, Apr 24, 2025 at 11:23 PM Dianjin Wang <wangdian...@gmail.com> wrote: > Hi all, > > I’d like to bring up a point regarding the PAX recently merged into > the main branch. > > Currently, the PAX is enabled by default in configure, and users need > to explicitly disable it via `--disable-pax` option. However, this > behavior is inconsistent with most of the other extensions under the > contrib/ or gpcontrib/ dir, which are typically disabled by default > unless explicitly enabled. > > I believe it would be more user-friendly and consistent to change the > default behavior of PAX to disabled, requiring users to opt-in via > `--enable-pax`. > > Here’s why: > > 1. Build Consistency with Other contrib Modules: Most contrib plugins > are not enabled by default. Changing PAX to follow this pattern aligns > with user expectations, especially for long-time Greenplum users. > > 2. Reduce Build Failures: PAX currently requires downloading several > submodules during the build. For users who install Cloudberry from > source without prior knowledge of this requirement, this will lead to > build failures, which can be confusing and frustrating. > > 3. Optional Nature of the Feature: PAX, while valuable, is not a core > feature that every user will need. Letting users opt in to building it > makes the installation process simpler for the general case. > > We can also update the build instructions and documentation to clearly > indicate how to enable PAX if needed (--enable-pax) and how to fetch > its required submodules. > > I’d love to hear your thoughts on this. If there’s a consensus, that > would be better to make this change before our release 2.0. > > Best, > Dianjin Wang > > --------------------------------------------------------------------- > To unsubscribe, e-mail: dev-unsubscr...@cloudberry.apache.org > For additional commands, e-mail: dev-h...@cloudberry.apache.org > >
