Bug#820943: libpostgresql-jdbc-java: Please default to JDBC4

[Jacob L. Anawalt]

Package: libpostgresql-jdbc-java
Version: 9.2-1002-1
Severity: wishlist

Greetings Debian Java Developers,

I recently ran into some trouble with the JDBC3 version of the PostgreSQL JDBC 
Driver after upgrading from Debian 7 to Debian 8 (bts#820942).

My Tomcat instance was configured to use the "postgresql" library this way:

lib/postgresql.jar -> ../../java/postgresql.jar

That target is itself a symlink to the JDBC3 version of the driver:

/usr/share/java/postgresql.jar -> postgresql-jdbc3.jar

The PostgreSQL JDBC Driver site says to use the JDBC4 driver if you are using 
Java version 1.6 or newer:

"This is the current version of the driver. Unless you have unusual requirements 
(running old applications or JVMs), this is the driver you should be using. It 
supports Postgresql 7.2 or newer and requires a 1.6 or newer JVM. It contains 
support for SSL and the javax.sql package. If you are using the 1.6 then you 
should use the JDBC4 version."

Since Debian 8/Jessie ships with and default-jdk depends on OpenJDK 7, it seems 
that having /usr/share/java/postgresql.jar point to postgresql-jdbc4.jar be 
following upstream's intent. I would have avoided the issue in bug 820942 and 
potentially other issues in the future if the default name pointed to the JDBC4 
driver:

"If you are using a java version older than 1.6 then you will need to use a 
JDBC3 version of the driver, which will by necessity not be current"

https://jdbc.postgresql.org/download.html

Thank you for packaging this!
- Jacob

-- System Information:
Debian Release: 8.4
   APT prefers stable
   APT policy: (500, 'stable')
Architecture: i386 (i686)

Kernel: Linux 3.16.0-4-686-pae (SMP w/4 CPU cores)
Locale: LANG=en_US.UTF-8, LC_CTYPE=en_US.UTF-8 (charmap=UTF-8)
Shell: /bin/sh linked to /bin/dash
Init: systemd (via /run/systemd/system)

libpostgresql-jdbc-java depends on no packages.

libpostgresql-jdbc-java recommends no packages.

Versions of packages libpostgresql-jdbc-java suggests:
pn  postgresql  <none>

-- no debconf information