Re: SQL99 hierarchical queries stalled

Tom Lane wrote:
> Hannu Krosing <hannu(at)skype(dot)net> writes:
> > On T, 2005-05-17 at 00:42 -0400, Tom Lane wrote:
> >> I seem to recall some discussion of how to do this in the past;
> >> have you trolled the pghackers archives?
>
> > I think that Jasons inspiration for doing it came from the the fact that
> > there are already now abandoned patches for doing it.
>
> Having looked over the latest patch, my advice would be to ignore it :-(
> It's almost completely devoid of documentation, except for comments
> that he copied-and-pasted from elsewhere without modification. Wrong
> comments are even worse than none.
>
> What I'd like to see before anyone writes a line of code is a text
> document explaining how this is going to work: what's the plan tree
> structure, what happens at execution time, how much of the SQL99 spec
> is going to get implemented. If you don't have that understanding
> first, you're going to get buried in irrelevant details.

I have updated the developer's FAQ to cover these suggestions on how to
start a patch:

1.4) What do I do after choosing an item to work on?

Send an email to pgsql-hackers with a proposal for what you want to do
(assuming your contribution is not trivial). Working in isolation is not
advisable because others might be working on the same TODO item, or you
might have misunderstood the TODO item. In the email, discuss both the
internal implementation method you plan to use, and any user-visible
changes (new syntax, etc). For complex patches, it is important to get
community feeback on your proposal before starting work. Failure to do
so might mean your patch is rejected.

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