Yes, but with PostegreSQL (and any other SQL server I'm aware of) you already have a central server that can do that. If you have multiple SQL server this won't work obv, unless you pair it with a unique server ID.
I recently worked on a data import project and because we used UUIDs I was able to generate all the ids offline. And because they’re randomly generated there was no risk of conflict.
This was nice because if the script failed half way through I could easily lookup which ids were already imported and continue where I left off.
The point is, this property of UUIDs occasionally comes in handy and it’s a life saver.
postgres=# CREATE TABLE foo(id INT, bar TEXT);
CREATE TABLE
postgres=# INSERT INTO foo (id, bar) VALUES (1, 'Hello, world');
INSERT 0 1
postgres=# ALTER TABLE foo ALTER id SET NOT NULL, ALTER id ADD GENERATED
ALWAYS AS IDENTITY (START WITH 2);
ALTER TABLE
postgres=# INSERT INTO foo (bar) VALUES ('ACK');
INSERT 0 1
postgres=# TABLE foo;
id | bar
----+--------------
1 | Hello, world
2 | ACK
(2 rows)
You said data import, so I assumed it was pulling rows into an empty table. The example I posted was a way to create a table with a static integer PK that you could rapidly generate in a loop, and then later convert it to auto-incrementing.
> I’m sure there’s a way to get it to work with integer ids but it would have been a pain. With UUID’s it was very simple to generate.
IME, if something is easy with RDBMS in prod, it usually means you’re paying for it later. This is definitely the case with UUIDv4 PKs.
No I mean an active prod table with people adding new rows all the time. It's just so much easier not having to worry about integer conflicts and auto-incrementing shenanigans.
But I get you like integers so whatever works for you, I just don't think they're the right tradeoff for most projects.
