Re: Different error messages executing CREATE TABLE or ALTER TABLE to create a column "xmin" - Mailing list pgsql-bugs

On Mon, Jan 23, 2012 at 11:25, Marc Balmer <marc@msys.ch> wrote:

> Am 22.01.12 14:22, schrieb Giuseppe Sucameli:
> > test=> create table lx (xmin int);
> > ERROR:  column name "xmin" conflicts with a system
> > column name
> >
> > test=> create table lx (i int);
> > CREATE TABLE
> > test=> alter table lx add xmin int;
> > ERROR:  column "xmin" of relation "lx" already exists.
>
> That is not a bug, but a feature.
>

I see it as a message bug.  Why wouldn't ALTER TABLE also tell us that xmin
is a system column?  It makes things much more clear for newbies who don't
see the column yet are told it exists if they're also told it's a system
column.

I would try to cook up a patch but I have no skills :-(