Thread: Forbid referencing columns by names in ALTER INDEX ... SETSTATISTICS

Forbid referencing columns by names in ALTER INDEX ... SETSTATISTICS

From
Yugo Nagata
Date:
Hi,

According to the syntax in ALTER INDEX doc, a column should be specified by
column number as discussed in [1]. However, the current code still allows to
use an internal column name like "expr". Is this intentional?

Although it is harmless, how about forbiding this undocumented and
unuseful behavior. The attached patch does it.

[1] https://www.postgresql.org/message-id/CAPpHfdsSYo6xpt0F%3DngAdqMPFJJhC7zApde9h1qwkdpHpwFisA%40mail.gmail.com

-- 
Yugo Nagata <nagata@sraoss.co.jp>

Attachment

Re: Forbid referencing columns by names in ALTER INDEX ... SET STATISTICS

From
Robert Haas
Date:
On Wed, Jun 27, 2018 at 9:22 AM, Yugo Nagata <nagata@sraoss.co.jp> wrote:
> According to the syntax in ALTER INDEX doc, a column should be specified by
> column number as discussed in [1]. However, the current code still allows to
> use an internal column name like "expr". Is this intentional?
>
> Although it is harmless, how about forbiding this undocumented and
> unuseful behavior. The attached patch does it.

If it's harmless, why prohibit it?

-- 
Robert Haas
EnterpriseDB: http://www.enterprisedb.com
The Enterprise PostgreSQL Company


Re: Forbid referencing columns by names in ALTER INDEX ... SETSTATISTICS

From
Yugo Nagata
Date:
On Thu, 28 Jun 2018 10:26:13 -0400
Robert Haas <robertmhaas@gmail.com> wrote:

> On Wed, Jun 27, 2018 at 9:22 AM, Yugo Nagata <nagata@sraoss.co.jp> wrote:
> > According to the syntax in ALTER INDEX doc, a column should be specified by
> > column number as discussed in [1]. However, the current code still allows to
> > use an internal column name like "expr". Is this intentional?
> >
> > Although it is harmless, how about forbiding this undocumented and
> > unuseful behavior. The attached patch does it.
> 
> If it's harmless, why prohibit it?

I thought that we should prohibit it because this is not allowed
according to the documented syntax. However, don't we have to be
so rigorous about it?

> 
> -- 
> Robert Haas
> EnterpriseDB: http://www.enterprisedb.com
> The Enterprise PostgreSQL Company
> 


-- 
Yugo Nagata <nagata@sraoss.co.jp>