Re: Naming of the different stats systems / "stats collector" - Mailing list pgsql-hackers

From David G. Johnston
Subject Re: Naming of the different stats systems / "stats collector"
Date
Msg-id CAKFQuwasNN6Ls_W1xoZdbheOUf=pWaMAc1Pc3R-t2eUuVarCKA@mail.gmail.com
Whole thread Raw
In response to Re: Naming of the different stats systems / "stats collector"  (Andres Freund <andres@anarazel.de>)
Responses Re: Naming of the different stats systems / "stats collector"
List pgsql-hackers
On Tue, Mar 8, 2022 at 6:50 PM Andres Freund <andres@anarazel.de> wrote:
On 2022-03-08 15:55:04 -0700, David G. Johnston wrote:
> On Tue, Mar 8, 2022 at 1:54 PM Andres Freund <andres@anarazel.de> wrote:
> > One thing I'm not yet happy around the shared memory stats patch is
> > naming. Currently a lot of comments say things like:
> >
> >   * [...] We convert to
> >   * microseconds in PgStat_Counter format when transmitting to the
> > collector.
> >

"...format for writing to the statistics datastore"
 
> > or
> >
> > # - Query and Index Statistics Collector -

"...Statistics Collection"

 
> >
> > or
> >
> > /* ----------
> >  * pgstat_report_subscription_drop() -
> >  *
> >  *  Tell the collector about dropping the subscription.
> >  * ----------
> >  */

I would expect that either the function gets renamed or just goes away.  Just changing the word "collector" isn't going to be a good change, the new description should describe whatever the new behavior is.


> >
> > the immediate question for the patch is what to replace "collector" with.
> >
> >
> Not really following the broader context here so this came out of nowhere
> for me.  What is the argument for changing the status quo here?  Collector
> seems like good term.

Sorry, probably should have shared a bit more context. The shared memory stats
patch removes the stats collector process - which seems to make 'collector'
not descriptive anymore...


As shown above I don't see that there is a single word that will simply replace "collector".  We are changing a core design of the system and each dependent system will need to be tweaked in a context-appropriate manner.

As the process goes away we are now dealing directly with a conceptual datastore.  And instead of referring to the implementation detail of how statistics are collected we can just refer to the "collection" behavior generically.  Whether we funnel through a process or write directly to the datastore it is still statistics collection.

David J.

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