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Date: Wed, 19 Jan 2011 12:53:18 -0600
From: "Kevin Grittner" <Kevin.Grittner@wicourts.gov>
To: "Thom Brown" <thom@linux.com>
Cc: "pgsql-docs" <pgsql-docs@postgresql.org>,
	"PostgreSQL-development" <pgsql-hackers@postgresql.org>
Subject: Re: [HACKERS] Couple document fixes
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Thom Brown <thom@linux.com> wrote:
 
> relkind in the same table is the same type, but isn't displayed as
> "char" in the docs, and the same applies to many other system
tables.
> They would need changing too then.
> 
> Examples are:
> 
> pg_type.typtype
> pg_proc.provolatile
> pg_attribute.attstorage
 
That's a good point.  Consistency would trump getting a single entry
right, for sure.  I wonder, though, whether we shouldn't
consistently distinguish them.  For one thing, I've seen multiple
posts where people were reporting "bugs" because of having confused
char with "char".
 
FWIW, \d shows:
 
       Table "pg_catalog.pg_class"
     Column      |   Type    | Modifiers
-----------------+-----------+-----------
 relname         | name      | not null
 relnamespace    | oid       | not null
 reltype         | oid       | not null
 reloftype       | oid       | not null
 relowner        | oid       | not null
 relam           | oid       | not null
 relfilenode     | oid       | not null
 reltablespace   | oid       | not null
 relpages        | integer   | not null
 reltuples       | real      | not null
 reltoastrelid   | oid       | not null
 reltoastidxid   | oid       | not null
 relhasindex     | boolean   | not null
 relisshared     | boolean   | not null
 relpersistence  | "char"    | not null
 relkind         | "char"    | not null
 relnatts        | smallint  | not null
 relchecks       | smallint  | not null
 relhasoids      | boolean   | not null
 relhaspkey      | boolean   | not null
 relhasexclusion | boolean   | not null
 relhasrules     | boolean   | not null
 relhastriggers  | boolean   | not null
 relhassubclass  | boolean   | not null
 relfrozenxid    | xid       | not null
 relacl          | aclitem[] |
 reloptions      | text[]    |
Indexes:
    "pg_class_oid_index" UNIQUE, btree (oid)
    "pg_class_relname_nsp_index" UNIQUE, btree (relname,
relnamespace)
 
Currently we don't seem to distinguish them in very many places in
the docs:
 
$ find -name '*.sgml' | xargs egrep -n '\"char\"'
./doc/src/sgml/textsearch.sgml:1271:setweight(<replaceable
class="PARAMETER">vector</replaceable> <type>tsvector</>,
<replaceable class="PARAMETER">weight</replaceable> <type>"char"</>)
returns <type>tsvector</>
./doc/src/sgml/datatype.sgml:1116:    length might change in a
future release. The type <type>"char"</type>
./doc/src/sgml/datatype.sgml:1134:       
<entry><type>"char"</type></entry>
./doc/src/sgml/release-old.sgml:4406:Add routines for single-byte
"char" type(Thomas)
./doc/src/sgml/release-old.sgml:4747:Make "char" type a synonym for
"char(1)" (actually implemented as bpchar)(Thomas)
./doc/src/sgml/xfunc.sgml:1794:        
<entry><type>"char"</type></entry>
./doc/src/sgml/release-8.0.sgml:3389:      <type>"char"</> data type
have been removed.
./doc/src/sgml/release-8.0.sgml:4460:        <type>"char"</> data
type have been removed.
./doc/src/sgml/release-8.0.sgml:4466:        to do arithmetic on a
<type>"char"</> column, you can cast it to
./doc/src/sgml/func.sgml:8462:        
<literal><function>setweight(<type>tsvector</>,
<type>"char"</>)</function></literal>
./doc/src/sgml/btree-gin.sgml:17:  <type>oid</>, <type>money</>,
<type>"char"</>,
 
-Kevin