WiredTiger added support for reading a new data format in the 6.1.0 release of MongoDB via WT-8447 and follow on tickets.

Creating new content with that data format change is currently restricted to Standalone (non MongoDB) builds. Once MongoDB starts generating the new data format, it will be necessary to be able to read it in the prior major release - in this case we are aiming for MongoDB 6.0.

In order to be able to read it, we will need to choose to either backport WT-8447 and associated follow on tickets, or implement a more constrained change that manages the presence of the new information in a sensible way.

The purview of this ticket is to figure out what the least risky backport approach is, define it, and implement the code change.