Re: Fix output of zero privileges in psql

On Mon, 2023-10-09 at 15:13 -0400, Tom Lane wrote:
> Laurenz Albe <laurenz(dot)albe(at)cybertec(dot)at> writes:
> > The whole point of this patch is to make psql behave consistently with respect to
> > NULLs in meta-commands.
>
> Yeah.  There is a lot of attraction in having \pset null affect these
> displays just like all other ones.  The fact that they act differently
> now is a wart, not something we should replace with a different special
> case behavior.
>
> Also, I'm fairly concerned about not changing the default behavior here.
> The fact that this behavior has stood for a couple dozen years without
> many complaints indicates that there's not all that big a problem to be
> solved.  I doubt that a new default behavior will be well received,
> even if it's arguably better.

I understand your concern. People who have "\pset null" in their .psqlrc
might be surprised if suddenly "<null>" starts appearing in the outout
of \l.

But then the people who have "\pset null" in their .psqlrc are typically
already somewhat experienced and might have less trouble dealing with that
change (but they are more likely to bleat on the mailing list, granted).

Users with little experience won't notice any difference, so they won't
be confused by the change.

Yours,
Laurenz Albe