Neil Conway <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> writes:
> The historical origins of the feature are no excuse for its
> deficiencies.
On the other hand, the alleged deficiencies are not bad enough to
justify making non-backwards-compatible changes. If we were getting
routine complaints from the field I might be
Peter Eisentraut <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> writes:
> Shell variables did serve as a design model, mostly because I found it
> better to use *some* model rather than inventing behavior out of thin
> air. Consequently, I am sort of biased on this.
It does seem worth pointing out that shell variables ha
Neil Conway wrote:
> Perhaps you're suggesting shell variables were used as the design
> model for psql's variables (although I can't be sure, you didn't
> elaborate). If so, what I'm saying is that this model is not very
> friendly for setting psql-internal options, and we'd be better
> changing i
Peter Eisentraut <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> writes:
> Neil Conway wrote:
>> Recently, I was surprised to learn that psql variables are case
>> sensitive.
>
> like shell variables
What relevance does that have? Shell variables may or may not share
the same design flaws that psql variables do, but I don't
Neil Conway wrote:
> Recently, I was surprised to learn that psql variables are case
> sensitive.
like shell variables
> Furthermore, there is no error when one attempts to '\set'
> a non-existent variable
Well, how are you going to set a new variable if not this way?
> One possible justificati
Tom Lane <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> writes:
> [ blinks... ] This is historical revisionism. Psql variables were
> invented to provide user-defined variables; it is the predefined
> ones that are a wart added to the mechanism, not vice versa.
The historical origins of the feature are no excuse for its
d
Neil Conway <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> writes:
> Recently, I was surprised to learn that psql variables are case
> sensitive. Furthermore, there is no error when one attempts to '\set'
> a non-existent variable (arguably for good reason: I suppose it's too
> late now to get rid of user-defined psql variab
Recently, I was surprised to learn that psql variables are case
sensitive. Furthermore, there is no error when one attempts to '\set'
a non-existent variable (arguably for good reason: I suppose it's too
late now to get rid of user-defined psql variables). That leads to
confusing situations like th
