Dear Tom, I thought about it... how to solve the contradiction: - backend vs external tool? - new interface? new command? unix? windows? - compatibility with old/existing interfaces? - plugins, any one can contribute? - don't bother DBA's - communicate about it?
My 2 pence idea of the day (for free): CREATE SCHEMA pg_advisor; CREATE VIEW pg_advisor.table_without_primary_keys AS SELECT ... FROM pg_catalog...; COMMENT ON VIEW pg_advisor.table_without_primary_keys IS 'hey man, it is considered better to have a primary key on tables...'; CREATE VIEW pg_advisor.costly_ri_checks AS ... CREATE VIEW pg_advisor.summary AS SELECT 'missing primary key declarations', COUNT(*) FROM pg_advisor.table_without_primary_keys UNION SELECT 'costly referencial integrity checks...', COUNT(*) FROM pg_advisor.costly_ri_checks UNION ... ; Then: - it is in the backend, somehow;-) - easy plugin: CREATE VIEW ...;;-) - anyone fluent in SQL and in pg_catalog can contribute! - ALL existing interfaces are already compatible;-) I can use psql;-);-) - no one has to look at the views if he does not want to. - you can communicate about it in the new release... - well, we're in a relationnal database, so let us stay there;-) Good night, -- Fabien Coelho - [EMAIL PROTECTED] ---------------------------(end of broadcast)--------------------------- TIP 6: Have you searched our list archives? http://archives.postgresql.org