Re: FWD: Re: Updated backslash consistency patch

Tom,

> You *think* you don't want to see system objects.  The first time that
> you waste hours trying to figure out why your function doesn't work,
> only to find that it conflicts with a system function that \df wasn't
> showing you, you'll reconsider.

I'm still a consultant for a living, so I use the psql command line on a 
variety of client systems a lot.  And I'll tell you that 80% of the time 
I use \df it's to look up the exact spelling and parameters of a 
user-defined function, not a builtin.  The builtins are well-documented 
in the PostgreSQL docs; why would I use \df to look them up?

In other words, no, I can't tell you that this patch is well-implemented 
(and for that matter I don't like the syntax of \dfS), but I can say 
that the *current* behavior is annoying and time-wasting, and always has 
been.  It's also inconsistent with the behavior of \dt.

So I'm not arguing for this patch ... I'd reject it on messy syntax 
grounds, and because I think a general \system switch is cleaner ... but 
I am arguing against rejecting the idea that we want the default 
behavior to show user-defined functions.

--Josh