Re: Error message inconsistency

On Sat, Mar 23, 2019 at 4:33 AM Fabrízio de Royes Mello
<fabriziomello@gmail.com> wrote:
>
> On Fri, Mar 22, 2019 at 2:25 PM Simon Riggs <simon@2ndquadrant.com> wrote:
> >
> > As noted by a PostgreSQL user to me, error messages for NOT NULL constraints are inconsistent - they do not mention
therelation name in the message, as all other variants of this message do. e.g. 
> >
> > postgres=# create table nn (id integer not null);
> > CREATE TABLE
> > postgres=# insert into nn values (NULL);
> > ERROR: null value in column "id" violates not-null constraint
> > DETAIL: Failing row contains (null).
> >
> > postgres=# create table nn2 (id integer check (id is not null));
> > CREATE TABLE
> > postgres=# insert into nn2 values (NULL);
> > ERROR: new row for relation "nn2" violates check constraint "nn2_id_check"
> > DETAIL: Failing row contains (null).
> >
> > I propose the attached patch as a fix, changing the wording (of the first case) to
> > ERROR: null value in column "id" for relation "nn" violates not-null constraint
> >

I think we are inconsistent for a similar message at a few other
places as well.  See, below two messages:

column \"%s\" contains null values
column \"%s\" of table \"%s\" contains null values

If we decide to change this case, then why not change another place
which has a similar symptom?

> > It causes breakage in multiple tests, which is easy to fix once/if we agree to change.
> >
>
> I totally agree with that change because I already get some negative feedback from users about this message too.
>

What kind of negative feedback did you get from users?  If I see in
the log file, the message is displayed as :

2019-03-24 18:12:49.331 IST [6348] ERROR:  null value in column "id"
violates not-null constraint
2019-03-24 18:12:49.331 IST [6348] DETAIL:  Failing row contains (null).
2019-03-24 18:12:49.331 IST [6348] STATEMENT:  insert into nn values (NULL);

So, it is not difficult to identify the relation.

--
With Regards,
Amit Kapila.
EnterpriseDB: http://www.enterprisedb.com