Subject: Re: Add %x to PROMPT1 and PROMPT2
To: Tom Lane <tgl@sss.pgh.pa.us>, Daniel Gustafsson <daniel@yesql.se>
Cc: Michael Paquier <michael@paquier.xyz>,
 Vik Fearing <vik.fearing@2ndquadrant.com>,
 Fabien COELHO <coelho@cri.ensmp.fr>,
 PostgreSQL-development <pgsql-hackers@postgresql.org>
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From: Ian Barwick <ian.barwick@2ndquadrant.com>
Message-ID: <79ac1ca0-2bab-bbe4-126a-01966f812075@2ndquadrant.com>
Date: Tue, 4 Feb 2020 10:31:43 +0900
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On 2020/02/03 23:40, Tom Lane wrote:
> Daniel Gustafsson <daniel@yesql.se> writes:
>> On 3 Feb 2020, at 08:08, Michael Paquier <michael@paquier.xyz> wrote:
>>> FWIW, I am not really in favor of changing a default old enough that
>>> it could vote (a45195a).
> 
>> That by itself doesn't seem a good reason to not change things.
> 
>> My concern would be that users who have never ever considered that the prompt
>> can be changed, all of sudden wonder why the prompt is showing characters it
>> normally isn't, thus causing confusion.  That being said, I agree that this is
>> a better default long-term.
> 
> I've got the same misgivings as Michael.  In a green field this'd likely
> be a good idea, but after so many years I'm afraid it will make fewer
> people happy than unhappy.
> 
> Now on the other hand, we did change the server's default log_line_prefix
> not so long ago (7d323to se5ba4), and the feared storm of complaints was pretty
> much undetectable.  So maybe this'd go down the same way.  Worth noting
> also is that this shouldn't be able to break any applications, since the
> prompt is an interactive-only behavior.

The last change I recall affecting default psql behaviour was the addition
of COMP_KEYWORD_CASE in 9.2 (db84ba65), which personally I (and no doubt others)
found annoying, but the world still turns.

+1 one for this change, it's something I also add to every .psqlrc I setup.

Moreover, some of my work involves logging in at short notice to other people's
systems where I don't have control over the .psqlrc setup - while I can of
course set the prompt manually it's an extra step, and it would be really
nice to see the transaction status by default when working on critical
systems in a time-critical situation. (Obviously it'll take a few years
for this change to filter into production...).


Regards


Ian Barwick

-- 
Ian Barwick                   https://www.2ndQuadrant.com/
  PostgreSQL Development, 24x7 Support, Training & Services