Re: review: psql: edit function, show function commands patch

Robert Haas <robertmhaas(at)gmail(dot)com> writes:
> On Mon, Aug 2, 2010 at 10:49 PM, Tom Lane <tgl(at)sss(dot)pgh(dot)pa(dot)us> wrote:
>> I'm tempted
>> to suggest forgetting about any user-configurable parameter and just
>> provide code that strcmp's the $EDITOR value to see if it recognizes the
>> editor name, otherwise do nothing.

> With all due respect, that sounds like an amazingly bad idea. Surely,
> we'll be forever getting patches to add $MYFAVORITEEDITOR to the list,
> or complaints that it's not already included.

Well, yeah, that's the idea. I say that beats a constant stream of
complaints that $MYFAVORITEEDITOR no longer works at all --- which
is what your concern was, no?

> While this is
> superficially a Nice Thing to Have and I would certainly support it if
> +linenumber were relatively universal, it's really a pretty minor
> convenience when you come right down to it, and I am not at all
> convinced it is worth the hassle of trying to divine what piece of
> syntax will equip the user's choice of editor with the necessary
> amount of clue.

The other approach we could take is that this whole thing is disabled by
default, and you have to set a psql variable EDITOR_LINENUMBER_SWITCH
to turn it on. If you haven't read the documentation enough to find
out that variable exists, well, no harm no foul.

regards, tom lane