Re: GUC time unit spelling a bit inconsistent

Am Montag, 18. Juni 2007 19:03 schrieb Tom Lane:
> Standard according to whom?

ISO 31 a.k.a. SI

> In time-related contexts (eg ISO 8601) I'd expect just "h" "m" and "s".

ISO 8601 appears to use a slightly different syntax for writing timespans.  I 
would not object if anyone added support for that.

> Since there's no likelihood that anyone would think autovacuum_naptime 
> is measured in meters, I think insisting that it must not be written as
> "1m" is just pedantry.

I'm pretty sure a lot of people would initially be confused why anyone would 
write time in meters, let alone those that might associate it with memory 
units.  In my subjective view (and I acknowledge that we have all been 
educated in different ways), writing "1m" for a time quantity is meaningless 
and an error.

Standards exist for these things, and we have a fine tradition for choosing 
standards in favor of randomness.

-- 
Peter Eisentraut
http://developer.postgresql.org/~petere/