So I coded up a patch for this, based on the idea of creating a quasi-subtransaction that affects only GUC while entering/exiting a function that has GUC settings attached. The specified settings are applied as if by SET LOCAL before starting function execution, and then they drop out during "subtransaction" exit. (I'll post the code to pgsql-patches in a moment.)
But on reflection I realize that there are some interesting properties to this approach: * if you do "SET LOCAL foo" when you are in a function that has a "SET foo" property, the setting disappears at function exit. But if you do "SET foo" it persists. This might be OK, but it seems a bit odd. * in fact, if you do "SET LOCAL foo" when you are in a function that has any "SET" property at all, the setting disappears at function exit, whether foo was one of the variables SET by the function definition or not. We could perhaps get away with defining that as being the behavior, but it doubtless will surprise someone sometime. What *should* these interactions be like, and has anyone got an idea how to implement their suggestion? regards, tom lane ---------------------------(end of broadcast)--------------------------- TIP 2: Don't 'kill -9' the postmaster