Re: A modest proposal: get rid of GUC's USERLIMIT

On Tue, 2004-11-09 at 17:27 -0500, Tom Lane wrote:
>
> What the USERLIMIT code tries to do is allow non-superusers to
> "increase" but not "decrease" the logging verbosity for their sessions
> only.  (For instance, a non-superuser could turn log_duration on, but
> can't turn it off if the DBA has turned it on.)  However, the usefulness
> of this capability is really pretty debatable.  A non-superuser
> presumably doesn't have access to the postmaster log file anyhow, so why
> does he need to be able to turn up the logging?  You could even argue
> that being able to flood the logs with stuff the DBA doesn't want is a
> mild form of DOS attack.

Hi Tom,

While it may be true that a user can't see those logs, in a narrow
sense, it is not true in a wider sense.  How many systems/accounts are
you currently logged into yourself?

The set of "people who control SQL queries" does have a large overlap
with other sets like "people who write and debug software" and "people
who have access to system logs".

When tracking down gnarly problems in heavily multi-user applications
enabling higher log levels at selective points has the potential to help
_a lot_ with diagnostic detail, without smothering you in _every_
detail.

Regards,                Andrew McMillan.

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