SQL99 part 2 clause 16.1 contains this note:

    NOTE 327 - The characteristics of a transaction begun by a
    <start transaction statement> are as specified in these General
    Rules regardless of the characteristics specified by any
    preceding <set transaction statement>. That is, even if one
    or more characteristics are omitted by the <start transaction
    statement>, the defaults specified in the Syntax Rules of this
    Subclause are effective and are not affected by any (preceding)
    <set transaction statement>.

In other words, this should work:

peter=# set session characteristics as transaction read only;
SET
peter=# start transaction;
START TRANSACTION
peter=# create table test (a int);
ERROR:  transaction is read-only

because the default of a bare "start transaction" is read write.  I 
propose that we change this to follow the standard and keep the 
traditional behavior for BEGIN only.


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