Change enums to varchar

[ryan]

Drop enums from the schema in favor of the more portable and flexible varchar. I think we can just change all occurrences of enum in schema.php to varchar(20). This will allow plugins to add new post status values, for example, without having to do an alter table to change the enum.

[westi]

+1

This is a really good idea.

[Otto42]

-1

This is a really bad idea. The whole point of using an enum is to have a fixed set of values that are valid ones. They are stored as integers internally and make things somewhat speedier, since WordPress selects posts based on post_status more or less constantly. Changing it to a varchar would create a not-insignificant performance loss.

If a plugin is making such a radical change as to require its own special post_status values, then it should be able to take the time to alter the table to allow that status.

[ryan]

Another motivator is to make our SQL more portable. enums aren't.

[matt]

+1 been meaning to do this for years.

[foolswisdom]

Mark and Ryan have decided to postpone this until 2.4, I have marked the priority is high so hopefully it can be done early in 2.4s cycle.

[ryan]

Change all enums to varchar(20)

[ryan]

(In [6732]) Enum to varchar. fixes #4778