From: Tom Lane <tgl@sss.pgh.pa.us>
To: Chris BSomething <xpusostomos@gmail.com>
cc: PostgreSQL Bug List <pgsql-bugs@lists.postgresql.org>
Subject: Re: Bug in psql
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Comments: In-reply-to Chris BSomething <xpusostomos@gmail.com>
	message dated "Mon, 03 Feb 2025 08:29:30 +0800"
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Date: Sun, 02 Feb 2025 21:35:26 -0500
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Chris BSomething <xpusostomos@gmail.com> writes:
> On Mon, 3 Feb 2025 at 04:36, David G. Johnston <david.g.johnston@gmail.com>
> wrote:
>> Since \d can only show information limited to the super-class relation,
>> and not specific subtypes, the information for the foreign table subtype
>> needs to be made available somewhere.  That place is \det

> I don't know what that means, but when two menu items have the same text,
> but a different function, Houston, we have a problem.

It could be argued that at the level of detail that's possible in this
help summary, their functions *are* the same.  The family of commands
that includes \dE will show you Schema, Name, Type, Owner, which are
properties that all relations have so they are sensible to show in a
list that might include any type of relation.  On the other hand,
\det shows Schema, Table, Server (and \det+ includes FDW options),
so it is only applicable to foreign tables.  But we don't have the
space in \h output to go into the specific output columns.  That's
pretty much left to the user to discover by trying things.

Having said that, if you have concrete ideas about how to make the
help output clearer, let's hear them.  (I'm pretty sure we've
rearranged \h's explanation of the \dtisv family before, so it's
not like this text is set in stone.)  But "this is a bug and
somebody else should fix it" is not going to cause anything to
happen, mainly because it's not very clear what would be better.

			regards, tom lane