Re: encoding of PostgreSQL messages

Added to TODO:

Improve encoding of connection startup messages sent to the client

Currently some authentication error messages are sent in the server
encoding

* http://archives.postgresql.org/pgsql-general/2008-12/msg00801.php
* http://archives.postgresql.org/pgsql-general/2009-01/msg00005.php

---------------------------------------------------------------------------

Karsten Hilbert wrote:
> Bruce, et al,
>
> given the thread partially quoted below would this warrant a
> TODO item "improve communication of encoding between client
> and server regarding early startup messages" ?
>
> A very usable band-aid for 8.4 - short of a proper fix -
> would be the minimal-invasive sending of messages in 7-bit
> English until server_encoding can be retrieved by the client
> by current means.
>
> Thanks,
> Karsten
>
> On Thu, Jan 01, 2009 at 08:33:56PM +0200, Peter Eisentraut wrote:
> > Subject: Re: [GENERAL] encoding of PostgreSQL messages
> > User-Agent: KMail/1.9.9
> >
> > On Wednesday 31 December 2008 20:23:47 Tom Lane wrote:
> > > > The proper fix is probably to include the client encoding in the
> > > > connection startup message.
> > >
> > > What of errors occurring before such an option could be applied?
> >
> > Connection errors are handled by the client, which knows the client encoding.
> > If the setting of the client encoding would be one of the first things to be
> > done on the server side, you would only have a handful of possible error
> > conditions left (e.g., setlocale failed, out of memory). You could choose to
> > report those in plain ASCII or send a special error code that the client can
> > resolve. Although I guess no one could fault us if "could not set language"
> > is reported not translated. ;-)
> >
> > > I think that ultimately it's necessary to accept that there will be some
> > > window during connection startup where sending plain ASCII (English)
> > > messages is the best recourse.
> >
> > Ultimately yes. But we currently handle the client encoding quite late in the
> > startup sequence so that many connection startup failure messages that are of
> > interest to normal users would likely be affected. So moving the client
> > encoding handling to the earliest possible phase would still be desirable.
> >
> > --
> > Sent via pgsql-general mailing list (pgsql-general(at)postgresql(dot)org)
> > To make changes to your subscription:
> > http://www.postgresql.org/mailpref/pgsql-general
>
> --
> GPG key ID E4071346 @ wwwkeys.pgp.net
> E167 67FD A291 2BEA 73BD 4537 78B9 A9F9 E407 1346
>
> --
> Sent via pgsql-general mailing list (pgsql-general(at)postgresql(dot)org)
> To make changes to your subscription:
> http://www.postgresql.org/mailpref/pgsql-general

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

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