Re: BUG #16939: Plural interval for negative singular

On Mon, Apr 26, 2021 at 01:02:44PM -0400, Tom Lane wrote:
> Bruce Momjian <bruce(at)momjian(dot)us> writes:
> > On Mon, Apr 26, 2021 at 12:45:34PM -0400, Tom Lane wrote:
> >> I agree with Noah's opinion that we should stick to the historical
> >> behavior in the interval I/O functions. There is not enough solidity
> >> in the "this is grammatically wrong" argument to justify taking any
> >> risk of application breakage, and it seems like there is some risk of
> >> that there.
>
> > Are you saying we should revert the patch and leave the plurals
> > inconsistent in different places?
>
> As far as the changes in datetime.c and interval.c are concerned,
> yes. I don't care too much about what you did in fe-print.c,

Well, we should then add a comment that this is inconsistent but should
not be changed.

> although TBH that case should be unreachable shouldn't it?
> When would PQntuples() return -1?

I changed that just for consistency with other calls, in case it is ever
copied somewhere else.

> (I shy gently away from the fact that that fe-print.c code is
> relentlessly untranslatable.)

Again, if we revert, we should document is via a C comment.

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

If only the physical world exists, free will is an illusion.