Re: PG 14 release notes, first draft

On Thu, May 20, 2021 at 04:35:07PM -0400, Álvaro Herrera wrote:
> On 2021-May-20, Bruce Momjian wrote:
>
> > On Thu, May 20, 2021 at 02:55:18PM -0500, Justin Pryzby wrote:
> > > On Thu, May 20, 2021 at 03:44:46PM -0400, Bruce Momjian wrote:
> > > > > | Reduce the default value of vacuum_cost_page_miss (Peter Geoghegan)
> > > > > | This new default better reflects current hardware capabilities.
> > > > > Also say: the previous default was 10.
> > > >
> > > > Uh, we didn't report the new value, so why report the old one?
> > >
> > > Good point.
> > > For symmetry with this one, maybe the old and new values should be included?
> >
> > Not sure. Those values are kind of hard to understand, so I am afraid
> > there would be more confusion by mentioning them.
> >
> > > |Change checkpoint_completion_target default to 0.9 (Stephen Frost)
> > > |The previous default was 0.5.
> >
> > Uh, that one is frequently modified by users, to an extent I didn't
> > understand why we kept it at 0.5 for so long, which is why I mentioned
> > it.
>
> You also mentioned 'md5' in the entry about password_encryption,
> remember? I tend to agree with Justin: if it's not too much extra space
> to mention both values, let's just do that. "Reduce the value of X to Y
> from Z. The new default better reflects ..." seems OK to me.
>
> I prefer "to Y from Z" rather than "from Z to Y", because then the new
> value appears first, which seems a tiny improvement in readability,
> though the phrase is in the opposite order of traditional. Also it
> seems better than "change value of X to Y. The previous default was Z"
> because it then becomes a little more verbose than really needed. But
> maybe that's OK too.

I went with this text:

Reduce the default value of <varname><xref
linkend="guc-vacuum-cost-page-miss"></varname> from 10 milliseconds to 2
(Peter Geoghegan)

I think with numbers, and the fact we are saying "decrease" havint them
in the from/to order is best. If this was non-numeric, like to scram
from md5, it would make more sense to use to/from.

--
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.