Re: search_path vs extensions

Andrew Dunstan <andrew(at)dunslane(dot)net> writes:
> Another way of handling this might be to provide for prepending or
> appending to the search path (or even for removing items from it).

I was just about to raise that as a requirement. Some folks on this
list might recognize the following coding pattern:

create schema rhn_channel;

--make rhn_channel be the default creation schema
update pg_settings set setting = 'rhn_channel,' || setting where name = 'search_path';

... create a bunch of objects in schema rhn_channel ...

-- restore the original setting
update pg_settings set setting = overlay( setting placing '' from 1 for (length('rhn_channel')+1) ) where name = 'search_path';

I agree that a nicer way to do that would be good.

> alter database foo set search_path = '+bar, baz'; -- append
> alter database foo set search_path = 'bar, baz+'; -- prepend

... but that ain't it :-(. SET should mean SET, not "do something magic".
Particularly in ALTER DATABASE/ALTER USER, whose execution order
relative to other stuff isn't especially well defined.

regards, tom lane