Re: Client application name

Dave Page <dpage(at)pgadmin(dot)org> writes:
> On Thu, Oct 15, 2009 at 3:28 PM, Tom Lane <tgl(at)sss(dot)pgh(dot)pa(dot)us> wrote:
>> Also, I am wondering exactly what you think psql would *do* with the
>> parameter if it had it. If the answer is "force the setting to be
>> 'psql'", that's the wrong answer. IMO you'd really want the environment
>> variable to take precedence over that, if set. But libpq considers the
>> priority to go the other way.

> Well in the psql case, it could flip that priority itself and only set
> the value if the environment variable wasn't set - which I agree would
> seem the right thing to do. On further thought, it would seem
> reasonable to do the same in the other apps as well, so you could have
> your backup script do something like "PGAPPLICATIONNAME="Nightly
> backup" /usr/bin/pg_dump ..."

Hmm. Maybe this is a generic problem. Should libpq offer some sort
of help? Maybe a "secondaryappname" parameter that doesn't override
the env variable.

regards, tom lane