> >> I dislike putting random restrictions on what the \d displays
> >> will show. We have done this in the past (eg, \df doesn't show
> >> things it thinks are I/O functions) and by and large it's been a
> >> mistake; I think it's created more confusion than it's prevented.
>
> > Hrm... psql's unfortunately an SQL interface to PostgreSQL and an
> > administration tool. What would you say to adding a -P switch (power
> > user) to psql that'd disable any information hiding: the default would
> > be to hide non-critical areas including pg_catalog, pg_toast,
> > template1, and template0. \set POWERUSER would also work to toggle
> > this.. or just have \P toggle this mode. Thoughts?
>
> I don't think that really answers my concern, since the sort of
> folks who are likely to get confused by not being able to see
> something that should be there are exactly the same ones who are not
> likely to have turned on a non-default "power user" setting. If
> anything, adding such a setting is likely to increase confusion
> rather than decrease it, because people will get accustomed to
> differing results.
Or overwhelmed by bits that they shouldn't be exposed to...
> I'm not dead set on this, and will concede gracefully if there's a
> consensus that we should change \dn's behavior. I'm just trying to
> make the point that it's a decision with pluses and minuses, not a
> no-brainer improvement.
*nods* Though I do think that masking pg_temp_* would be useful as
I've never seen a need to look inside of a pg_temp_* schema. Someone
running with -E would quickly pick up that pg_temp_* is filtered from
the results.
I have a machine with over 1K persistent connections and over 1K
pg_temp_* entries... I've been running with the patch submitted
earlier and it cuts down on the visual noise/unnecessary info
considerably. Switching between DBA mode and a data consumer with \P
sounds pretty appealing to me and would be something I'd be interested
in doing the leg work for. Changing the prompt would probably be good
from a UI perspective and adding the necessary logic so that if the
connecting user had DBA privs, it'd run in a power user mode instead
of the normal data consumer mode.
-sc
--
Sean Chittenden
