Re: postgres --help-config

Peter Eisentraut <peter_e@gmx.net> writes:
> Tom Lane writes:
>> But I don't see anything
>> wrong with the concept.  The short description is also the first
>> sentence of the long description; what's unreasonable about that?

> It constrains the writer of the description in a way he might not suspect.
> For example, we have

> check_function_bodies (boolean)
>     This parameter is normally true. When set false, it disables
>     validation ...

> Then the primary description would become "This parameter is normally
> true."

You have a point, but on the other hand, as the author of that
particular description I can feel free to criticize it.  It's generally
considered good style for the first sentence of a paragraph to convey
the basic point.  (In fact, I recall being dissatisfied with that text
when I wrote it, but I was too rushed to fix it.)  Maybe we should just
go ahead and rewrite the variable descriptions to conform to this style.

> I think there are two ways this can be resolved:
> 1) Leave it this way, deal with it, but then we can put everything in one
> field and let the software parse out the first sentence automatically.

True.

> 2) Make real separate "short" and "long" descriptions.

We'd have to break the strings freeze to do that.  How bad do you want it?
        regards, tom lane