Re: System Tables and Triggers - Mailing list pgsql-hackers

Hi Stef

I had the same problem some time ago. I wanted to define a trigger 
firing on CREATE TABLE (pg_class). This won't work because in most cases 
system tables are not accessed using the "standard" way for processing 
queries (parse -> rewrite -> plan -> execute). Therefore triggers are 
not allowed. Triggers could lead to conflicts and corruption. I have 
done some code digging and I have removed the warning you have shown. It 
does not help - I guess there is no way to get rid of the problem. All 
you can do is to write a function doing the job for you. System tables 
don't care about events too much.

There used to be a whole thread on this subject matter called "Triggers 
and System Tables" - maybe digging the archives will give you a broader 
view of the problem.

Too bad - it would be a nice feature :).

In my case I have solved the problem with the help of a view and a set 
of rules - maybe this will work for you as well. Also, functions are a 
good choice.
   Regards,
       Hans



Stef Telford wrote:

>Hello,
>
>    First of all, kudos on postgreSQL. That being said,
>am having a slight problem with it, namely, System tables
>appear to be 'special tables' and disallow triggers. Perhaps
>its jst the way i am doing it, however, here is a rather
>trite example to illustrate (file called system.trig):
>
>    CREATE OR REPLACE FUNCTION action_upd() RETURNS opaque AS '
>    BEGIN
>        RAISE NOTICE ''User % added/updated'',NEW.usename;
>        RETURN new;
>    END;' LANGUAGE 'plpgsql';
>
>    CREATE TRIGGER mysys_trig
>    AFTER INSERT OR UPDATE on pg_shadow
>    FOR EACH ROW
>    EXECUTE PROCEDURE action_upd();
>
>test1=# \i /data_raid/stefs_home/postgres/system.trig
>CREATE FUNCTION
>psql:/data_raid/stefshome/postgres/system.trig:10: ERROR: 
>CreateTrigger: can't create trigger for system relation pg_shadow
>
>
>    Now, i know that this is largely a useless example,
>however the theory was that if this -was- possible, then it
>would be child's play to create a session table for each user.
>This would allow the system to store values which would make
>things easier for the rest of the database and apache system
>i am using (it would allow me to improve and normalise my
>schema somewhat). I can also see the above being useful for
>when you have more than one DBA and would like to log user
>creation (actually, am thinking more of using pl/perl here
>and then emailing out each user/modification to all admins)
>
>    Last time this was tried (around 7.2) it allowed triggers
>on system tables, but pg_user and pg_shadow and most other tables
>would have values inserted in outside of the 'INSERT' logic. I can
>understand that this is great for speed, but it seriously hampers
>the usefulness of triggers (they wouldnt fire :)
>
>    This would seem to be a step backwards to me though, as
>now we cant even put triggers on the system tables. Is there any
>chance of this being lifted ? (actually, can understand not
>allowing pg_trigger mainly because it could end up a cyclic
>trigger very easily :)
>    
>
>    Thanks and hope this makes some sort of sense :)
>
>regards 
>Stef Telford <stef@chronozon.artofdns.com>
>
>
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