copy command -- foiled by pg_atoi

Hi

I'm using postgresql on RedHat/i386 from the RH6.1 RPMs
(Linux 2.2.5-15 PostgreSQL-6.5.2). I've been evaluating it,
and am quite excited about the possibilty of using this outstanding
open-source code in my company's systems.

I noticed the following and want to submit it for your consideration:

When doing a 'copy' from a big text file, if there is a record, say
half way down, which has an unparseable integer field (say 'X'
in a column that shoudl be an integer) one gets the following error:

ERROR: pg_atoi: error in "X": can't parse "X"

However, I don't get a line number reference where the error
occurred. This is a problem when you have half a million lines
in your file, some of which may contain legitimate X's as
well as non-legit ones. I don't even know which attribute failed.

Simple example: (imagine a million rows with 12 columns and
you're trying to find the problem:)

-------
create table foo (x int);
copy foo from stdin;
1
2
3
X
4
\.
-----------

I noticed that in pg_atoi there is this code:

if (errno) /* strtol must set ERANGE */
elog(ERROR, "pg_atoi: error reading \"%s\": %m", s);
if (badp && *badp && (*badp != c))
elog(ERROR, "pg_atoi: error in \"%s\": can\'t parse
\"%s\"",s, badp);

This is called (via int4in or some such) from copy.c:

values[i] = (Datum) (*fmgr_faddr(&in_functions[i]))(string,
elements[i],typmod[i]);
/*
* Sanity check - by reference attributes cannot
* return NULL
*/
if (!PointerIsValid(values[i]) &&
!(rel->rd_att->attrs[i]->attbyval))
elog(ERROR, "copy from line %d: Bad file format",
lineno);

So the lineno information is there, it's just not available when pg_atoi
logs its error and bails out.

Is it possible for pg_atoi to return an invalid pointer instead
of completely bailing out, thus allowing the 'sanity check' code
to print the line number? I have no idea how many things this
might break...

Regards

Mike Beller
CTO
Tradeworx.com