X-Original-To: pgsql-docs-postgresql.org@localhost.postgresql.org Received: from localhost (unknown [64.117.224.130]) by svr1.postgresql.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id AD436D1B8CD for ; Tue, 26 Aug 2003 09:11:16 -0300 (ADT) Received: from svr1.postgresql.org ([64.117.224.193]) by localhost (neptune.hub.org [64.117.224.130]) (amavisd-new, port 10024) with ESMTP id 88181-04 for ; Tue, 26 Aug 2003 09:10:53 -0300 (ADT) Received: from wolff.to (wolff.to [66.93.249.74]) by svr1.postgresql.org (Postfix) with SMTP id 08C04D1D9F0 for ; Tue, 26 Aug 2003 09:10:48 -0300 (ADT) Received: (qmail 12905 invoked by uid 500); 26 Aug 2003 12:16:46 -0000 Date: Tue, 26 Aug 2003 07:16:46 -0500 From: Bruno Wolff III To: Tom Lane Cc: pgsql-docs@postgreSQL.org Subject: Re: Do we need "Diagnostics" sections of SQL command reference pages? Message-ID: <20030826121646.GA12806@wolff.to> Mail-Followup-To: Tom Lane , pgsql-docs@postgreSQL.org References: <13339.1061847470@sss.pgh.pa.us> Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Disposition: inline In-Reply-To: <13339.1061847470@sss.pgh.pa.us> User-Agent: Mutt/1.5.4i X-Virus-Scanned: by amavisd-new at postgresql.org X-Archive-Number: 200308/71 X-Sequence-Number: 1931 On Mon, Aug 25, 2003 at 17:37:50 -0400, Tom Lane wrote: > I'm starting to look at updating the docs to match 7.4 error message > spellings. I find that a large part of the work I'll have to do is in > updating the "Diagnostics" (formerly "Outputs") section of the command > reference pages. I am wondering if it wouldn't be better to just rip > out these sections entirely. They seem like nearly content-free fluff > to me --- the listings of possible error messages are always incomplete, > often out of date, and arguably useless. If there is an error message > that's not clear enough by itself, we'd better fix the error message > instead of putting a gloss on it in the reference page. > > Comments? I think that a listing of possible error messages essentially indexed by command isn't very useful. However some of the documentation in that section is useful. In particular the information for INSERT covers stuff that isn't self explanatory in the output message.