Re: SHOW ALL output too wide

On Sat, 26 Nov 2005, Bruce Momjian wrote:

> See the discussion or really solo request by me for more feedback when
> this change was made for 8.1:
>
> http://archives.postgresql.org/pgsql-patches/2005-06/msg00295.php
>
> Where were you when I asked?

I do not work with postgresql like you do and can't follow everything,
that's just how life is. I've not used 8.1 much until recently, and that's
when I noticed the new behaviour.

I spend about 10 hours per week helping the pg project, mostly by giving
support in the #postgresql irc channel. That's about all the time I am
prepared to give. The main use I have of the SHOW ALL command it to tell
people to run it to show me what settings they have.

> Didn't you notice it in the release notes that have been online for
> months?
>
> * Make "SHOW ALL" include variable descriptions (Matthias Schmidt)

And you except me to understand from that line that the output from SHOW
ALL is much harder for me to read now then it was before?

I brought it up as soon as I knew about it. I don't think it's fair of you
to demand that I keep my mouth shut just because I can't follow the
development of pg as close as you can. But of course, if someone wants to
pay my for working full time on pg I would be very happy :-)

> It is unlikely this will be changed in any 8.1.X release. If you want it
> modified for 8.2, we will need to see more than one person complaining
> about it, because until now no one has complained about the documented
> 8.1 change.

Then I hope that when people notice it they will also speak up (if they
dare to do so now given that they missed the discussion you speak of
above).

I agree that for 8.1.x we only want bug fixes (as always, unless there are
very, very many complaints).

> If you can find a sufficient number of people who like the VERBOSE idea

I don't like the verbose idea. I think commands like that don't belong in
the server at all. Different clients have different needs. For example I
prefer that the \d command is implemented by psql and not by a DESCRIBE
command. I don't want a lot of different server commands that present
things in different ways for different clients. SHOW need to stay because
there have always been a SHOW command, but do we really want to build in
more things like that?

What I would want is one of:

* Revert to the old SHOW ALL command

* Implement a \show in psql that can do more then a server command
if we want it to.

My motivation is only for the good of postgresql. If the majority want
something else then that's what should happen (of course). I'm just
stating my view, nothing less and nothing more.

--
/Dennis Björklund