Allow `@` Characters in Extension Names

[olirice]

Describe the problem

For the dbdev pg_tle package manager, we've adopted a <username><separator><package_name> strategy to avoid name squatting. Due to the the pg_tle naming restrictions we've been struggling with finding a good separator that clearly communicates that intent.

Currently, we use a single hyphen - between <username> and <package_name> because it is already permitted e.g.

oli-foo

but the consensus seems to be that it is unintuitive for users and doesn't look great.

In a perfect world we'd use /, but given the challenges inherent in using things that can be interpreted as file separators that probably isn't the best choice.

The one we landed on as a middle ground is @.

So in short, this ask is for @ to be added to the character allow list for pg_tle package names so we can use it between author and package names for dbdev. Its purely for aesthetic reasons, but aesthetics can make a big difference to how something feels to use.

Example:

oli-foo
vs
oli@foo

If that isn't possible I'd also love to hear any other suggestions you might have around pg_tle naming conventions

[jim-mlodgenski]

Would your users find it awkward that all extensions would need to be quoted? Personally, I find it tedious which is why avoid special characters in object names.

[olirice]

For the most part users will be installing packages using the in-database client e.g.

select dbdev.install('oli@foo');

the CLI

dbdev install 'oli@foo' --connection=...

or via dumpable SQL that you can put in a migration file.

so it might not come up all that often. But even so, (imo) the explicitness that comes from quoting is also a positive

[adamguo0]

Hey @olirice, we merged a change to add @ to the character allowlist. Do you need a new tag with this change?

[olirice]

awesome!

Do you need a new tag with this change?

that'd be very helpful, thank you!

[adamguo0]

Created a v1.3.1 tag. I'll go ahead and close this issue, thanks for reporting!