# PostgreSQL Gotcha: Default timestamps are not exact!

> If you are compiling PostgreSQL from source you have a configure option called:

--enable-integer-datetimes

Now Debian/Ubuntu wisely turn this option on b…

If you are compiling PostgreSQL from source you have a configure option called: 
    
    
    --enable-integer-datetimes
    

Now Debian/Ubuntu wisely turn this option on by default, unfortunately the RPM provided by PostgreSQL.Org and the RPM provided by RedHat/Fedora do not. Why is this a problem? I think we can all agree that given that a particular value is within a column that value should be able to be retrieved from that column. Consider the following: 
    
    
    SELECT created FROM foo WHERE id = 2630863;
             created        
    -------------------------------
     2007-08-29 12:35:27.897597-04
    

O.k. simple enough. Now consider this: 
    
    
    SELECT created FROM foo WHERE created = '2007-08-29 12:35:27.897597-04';
    
     created
    --------------
    (0 rows)
    

What? That doesn't seem to make sense does it? If we continue our testing: 
    
    
    SELECT created FROM foo WHERE created = '2007-08-29 12:35:27.897597-04'  
       AND id = 2630863;
    
     created
    --------------
    (0 rows)
    

And: 
    
    
    SELECT created FROM foo WHERE created ilike '2007-08-29 12:35:27.897597-04' 
       AND id = 2630863;
             created
    -------------------------------
     2007-08-29 12:35:27.897597-04
    

Say what? Heh... In short... if you can, always use --integer-datetimes. So why is this a really big deal? It is a really big deal because you must initdb to fix the problem. That means a dump and reload. That means a significant outage.

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[View this page online](https://www.commandprompt.com/blog/postgresql_gotcha_default_timestamps_are_not_exact/)