PostgreSQL 8.4 and INTERVAL type

The dbmpgs84x database driver requires your database schema use the INTERVAL type, rather than a CHAR(50) type.

Version 2.21 introduced support for PostgreSQL 8.4 with the new database driver dbmpgs84x. This version of PostgreSQL implements a native INTERVAL data type that is similar to the Genero Business Development Language INTERVAL type.

When using the dbmpgs84x (and higher) driver, Informix-style INTERVAL types will be mapped / translated to native PostgreSQL INTERVALs. Prior drivers will keep using the CHAR(50) replacement. If your application is storing INTERVAL in a PostgreSQL database, you will have to modify you database schema to replace the existing CHAR(50) column with the native INTERVAL data type of PostgreSQL 8.4. If you cannot migrate the database, you can still use the older dbmpgs83x driver using CHAR(50) for INTERVALs, but that driver requires a PostgreSQL client version 8.3.