Dear Bruce,

> I am not sure this is of general enough usefulness to be in the backend.

Hmm...

I think that the inability to convert nearly binary compatible standard
types one to the other is a postgresql issue. Even if it is not often
useful, the point is completeness and soundness of the type provided by
the core. More over I haven't found any work around with decode/encode and
other casts functions. Bytea is somehow an isolated type, which makes it
not so useful from within the database.

> Can you add it as a pgfoundry project?

I could do it, but ISTM it is really overkill for two stupid 10 lines
functions that deal with internal core types.

--
Fabien.

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