Re: making EXPLAIN extensible

Sami Imseih <samimseih@gmail.com>

From: Sami Imseih <samimseih@gmail.com>

To: Tom Lane <tgl@sss.pgh.pa.us>

Cc: Robert Haas <robertmhaas@gmail.com>, Jeff Davis <pgsql@j-davis.com>, Thom Brown <thom@linux.com>, PostgreSQL Hackers <pgsql-hackers@lists.postgresql.org>

Date: 2025-03-12T19:58:50Z

Lists: pgsql-hackers

Commits

Same data as JSON: GET /api/v1/messages/:b64id/commits the thread's linked commits as JSON, with link sources. API reference →

pg_overexplain: Use PG_MODULE_MAGIC_EXT.
- 83ccc85859f3 18.0 landed
pg_overexplain: Call previous hooks as appropriate.
- 9f0c36aea0fb 18.0 landed
pg_overexplain: Additional EXPLAIN options for debugging.
- 8d5ceb113e3f 18.0 landed
Add an additional hook for EXPLAIN option validation.
- 50ba65e73325 18.0 landed
Add some new hooks so extensions can add details to EXPLAIN.
- 4fd02bf7cf94 18.0 landed
Make it possible for loadable modules to add EXPLAIN options.
- c65bc2e1d14a 18.0 landed

> I think this is a seriously bad idea.  The first line is already
> overloaded; we don't need several different extensions adding more
> stuff to it.

Fair enough.

> Plus, this doesn't consider what to do in non-text
> output formats.

the hook will be a no-op for non-text formats, which is not
desirable behavior. I get that also.

I have no strong feelings for this, but wanted to see what
others think.

thanks!

--
Sami Imseih