Re: Better HINT message for "unexpected data beyond EOF"

On Tue, Apr 1, 2025 at 7:13 AM Jakub Wartak
<jakub(dot)wartak(at)enterprisedb(dot)com> wrote:
> Thread bump. So we have the following candidates:
>
> 1. remove it as Andres stated:
> ERROR: unexpected data beyond EOF in block 1472 of relation base/5/16387
>
> 2a. Robert's idea
> ERROR: unexpected data beyond EOF in block 1472 of relation base/5/16387
> HINT: This has been observed with PostgreSQL files being overwritten.
>
> 2b. Christoph's idea
> ERROR: unexpected data beyond EOF in block 1472 of relation base/5/16387
> HINT: Did anything besides PostgreSQL touch that file?

I don't think I proposed that exact phrasing - I prefer (2b) over
(2a), although I would replace "besides" with "other than".

> Another question is should we back-patch this? I believe we should (?)

I don't think this qualifies as a bug. The current wording isn't
factually wrong, just unhelpful. Even if it were wrong, we need a
pretty good reason to change message strings in a stable branch,
because that can break things for users who are grepping for the
current string (or a translation thereof). If an overwhelming
consensus in favor of back-patching emerges, fine, but my gut feeling
is that back-patching will make more people sad than it makes happy.

--
Robert Haas
EDB: http://www.enterprisedb.com