Re: pgsql: Add support for piping COPY to/from an external program.

On 27 February 2013 16:22, Heikki Linnakangas <heikki(dot)linnakangas(at)iki(dot)fi> wrote:
> Add support for piping COPY to/from an external program.
>
> This includes backend "COPY TO/FROM PROGRAM '...'" syntax, and corresponding
> psql \copy syntax. Like with reading/writing files, the backend version is
> superuser-only, and in the psql version, the program is run in the client.
>
> In the passing, the psql \copy STDIN/STDOUT syntax is subtly changed: if you
> the stdin/stdout is quoted, it's now interpreted as a filename. For example,
> "\copy foo from 'stdin'" now reads from a file called 'stdin', not from
> standard input. Before this, there was no way to specify a filename called
> stdin, stdout, pstdin or pstdout.
>
> This creates a new function in pgport, wait_result_to_str(), which can
> be used to convert the exit status of a process, as returned by wait(3),
> to a human-readable string.
>
> Etsuro Fujita, reviewed by Amit Kapila.

A minor point:

+ Executing a command with <literal>PROGRAM</literal> might be restricted
+ by operating system's access control mechanisms, such as the SELinux.

This doesn't read well. Could this instead be amended to something more like:

"Executing a command with PROGRAM might be restricted by the operating
system's access control mechanisms, such as those enforced by
SELinux."

--
Thom