On Sat, 2009-09-19 at 18:35 -0400, Tom Lane wrote: > I'm still acutely uncomfortable with using CONSTRAINT syntax for this. > It is not a constraint per standard, because it's not going to be > displayable in information_schema. Furthermore, by extending > standardized syntax you run the risk of being blindsided by future > additions to the standard.
Ok. > The point about being able to support multiple constraints with one > index is kind of interesting, but I don't actually think that that's > so useful that it should override all other considerations about what > syntax we should pick. I think we should drop the whole thing and > just treat this as an extension to the CREATE INDEX syntax. Perhaps ALTER INDEX ADD EXCLUSION CONSTRAINT or some other command? And CREATE INDEX can offer the ability as a shorthand? I would still really like to decouple this from CREATE INDEX because of two reasons: 1. Cannot support multiple constraints per index very easily. I think this is a significant feature. 2. Must decide to make constraint at the same time as making the index, and once it's there, you can't remove it without dropping the index. I think either of these still tie the concept to implementation, because creating the index is always explicit. Peter seemed concerned about that, and I think that concern is valid, but I can live with it. If we really want them to be declarative, we could invent a new command. Regards, Jeff Davis -- Sent via pgsql-hackers mailing list (pgsql-hackers@postgresql.org) To make changes to your subscription: http://www.postgresql.org/mailpref/pgsql-hackers