Re: describe special values in GUC descriptions more consistently

On 18.02.2025 00:55, Nathan Bossart wrote:
> On Tue, Feb 18, 2025 at 08:14:58AM +1100, Peter Smith wrote:
>> SUGGESTION
>> "-1 disables logging plans. 0 means log all plans."
> +1
>
>> DefineCustomIntVariable("auto_explain.log_parameter_max_length",
>> "Sets the maximum length of query parameters to log.",
>> - "Zero logs no query parameters, -1 logs them in full.",
>> + "0 logs no query parameters, -1 logs them in full.",
>>
>> SUGGESTION #1 (main description part)
>> In fact that whole description seems incompatible with the
>> documentation. IMO it should be "Sets the maximum length of query
>> parameter VALUES to log.".
> I'm not sure omitting "values" changes the meaning in any discernible way,
> but I'm not opposed to adding it.
>
>> SUGGESTION #2 (special value part)
>> "-1 disables logging parameter values."
>> OR
>> "-1 disables logging parameter values. 0 means log parameter values in full"
>>
>> TBH, I am unsure if this one should even mention the value 0 because
>> there are already examples of "max" GUCs similar to this that say
>> nothing about 0 since the meaning should be clear.
>> e.g. log_parameter_max_length doesn't mention 0.
>> e.g. log_parameter_max_length_on_error doesn't mention 0.
> I think you've got the meanings swapped here. It should be:
>
> -1 means log parameter values in full. 0 disables logging parameter values.
>
> But I agree that we can omit the description for 0 here.
>

Thank you for reviewing! I agree with all of them. I updated patch v9
with these changes.

--
Best regards,
Ilia Evdokimov,
Tantor Labs LLC.