Thread

Re: Todo item: Include the symbolic SQLSTATE name in verbose error reports

Tom Lane <tgl@sss.pgh.pa.us> — 2026-05-25T18:58:11Z

Josh Kupershmidt <schmiddy@gmail.com> writes:
> Attached is a patch implementing an old feature request on the wiki's Todo:
> "Include the symbolic SQLSTATE name in verbose error reports"

I kind of doubt that this is actually useful (which presumably is
the reason the TODO item has languished uncompleted for so long).

The first problem is that the SQL spec's list of error codes isn't
very granular, so that there are many cases where different errors
with different messages have been mapped to the same SQLSTATE.
You are way better off to read the message text than to believe
that the SQLSTATE is a useful summary.

The second problem is that the proposed implementation relies on
libpq to know the server's list of SQLSTATEs, with obvious risks
for cross-version skew.

I also wonder if this wouldn't break some applications that are
expecting specific output from psql, or for that matter from
anything else relying on libpq's error message formatting.
No doubt such apps could be fixed, but the cost/benefit ratio
just doesn't seem all that attractive.

			regards, tom lane