Re: [PATCH] Docs: Make notes on sequences and rollback more obvious

Craig Ringer <ringerc@ringerc.id.au>

From: Craig Ringer <ringerc@ringerc.id.au>
To: Kevin Grittner <Kevin.Grittner@wicourts.gov>
Cc: Robert Haas <robertmhaas@gmail.com>, PostgreSQL Hackers <pgsql-hackers@postgresql.org>
Date: 2012-08-18T08:37:01Z
Lists: pgsql-hackers
On 08/07/2012 09:45 PM, Kevin Grittner wrote:

> I also think it's a problem that one can get through the entire
> "Concurrency Control" chapter (mvcc.sgml) without a clue that
> sequences aren't transactional.

I'm also wondering about adding something like the following summary of 
features with odd transactional behaviour. I'm sure there's more than 
I've listed, but nothing is jumping out at me.


   <sect1 id="mvcc-exceptions">
    <title>Exceptions to normal transactional rules</title>

    <para>
     Some PostgreSQL features, functions and data types differ from the
     usual transactional behaviour described in this chapter. Differences
     are generally mentioned in the documentation sections for the
     features they affect. Such exceptions are collected here for
     easy reference.
    </para>

    <itemizedlist>
     <listitem>
      <para>
       Serial pseudo-types <xref linkend="datatype-serial">
      </para>
     </listitem>
     <listitem>
      <para>
       <literal>SEQUENCE</literal>s - <xref linkend="functions-sequence">
      </para>
     </listitem>
     <listitem>
      <para>
       Advisory locks - <xref linkend="advisory-locks">
      </para>
     </listitem>
     <listitem>
      <para>
       Disk I/O to files outside the database, as performed by
       <literal>COPY ... TO</literal>, adminpack functions, and other
       add-ons. See <xref linkend="sql-copy">,
       <xref linkend="adminpack">.
      </para>
     </listitem>
    </itemizedlist>

   </sect1>