Re: The may/can/might business

Tom Lane wrote:
> 3606c3606
> < errmsg("aggregate function calls cannot be nested")));
> ---
> > errmsg("aggregate function calls may not be nested")));
>
> I don't think that this is an improvement, or even correct English.
>
> You have changed a message that states that an action is logically
> impossible into one that implies we are arbitrarily refusing to let
> the user do something that *could* be done, if only we'd let him.
>
> There is relevant material in the message style guidelines, section
> 45.3.8: it says that "cannot open file "%s" ... indicates that the
> functionality of opening the named file does not exist at all in the
> program, or that it's conceptually impossible."

Uh, I think you might be reading the diff backwards. The current CVS
wording is "cannot".

--
Bruce Momjian bruce(at)momjian(dot)us
EnterpriseDB http://www.enterprisedb.com

+ If your life is a hard drive, Christ can be your backup. +