Re: is there more documentation?

chrisj wrote:
> Hi
>
> I have been using Postgres for about 7 months now on a part-time basis and
> have been using the PDF "PostgreSQL 8.1.0 Documentation" and a commercial
> book as my only sources of documentation.
>
> So far the PDF has served me very well - thank-you!!
>
> However I am now looking for more information on interrogating the catalog
> and information_schema.  I have about 30 tables and 25 stored procedures
> (many of my SPs call other SPs), several types and sequences, and still
> growing.  I would like to determine the dependencies between all these
> objects but the information_schema does not seem to provide this
> information.

information_schema is part of the sql standard as a common way to find
various structure information about the database and does not cover
every feature of what the dbms can offer.

The tables and views inside the pg_catalog schema store all the database
info and is where postgresql gets/stores the data it uses internally.

Chapter 43 - System Catalogs - details the contents of these tables with
a brief description of their use/meaning. This is not an area of huge
comprehensive documentation so you won't find your questions directly
answered but you will find the info you need to construct the queries
you want. The best source may be the source itself, one place to start
is the psql source (src/bin/psql/describe.c) can reveal the sql
statements it uses to list structure details when requested.

You may want to start with -
<quote>
The catalog pg_depend records the dependency relationships between
database objects. This information allows DROP commands to find which
other objects must be dropped by DROP CASCADE or prevent dropping in the
DROP RESTRICT case.

See also pg_shdepend, which performs a similar function for dependencies
involving objects that are shared across a database cluster.
</quote>

>From doing some searches it seems like there may be a whole other world of
> Postgres documentation I have not stumbled upon.  Please give me some
> guidance/direction.
>


--

Shane Ambler
pgSQL@007Marketing.com

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