Re: Different error messages executing CREATE TABLE or ALTER TABLE to create a column "xmin"

On Thu, Jan 26, 2012 at 17:58, Robert Haas <robertmhaas@gmail.com> wrote:

> On Thu, Jan 26, 2012 at 11:29 AM, Tom Lane <tgl@sss.pgh.pa.us> wrote:
> > This looks reasonable to me, except that possibly the new error message
> > text could do with a bit more thought.  It seems randomly unlike the
> > normal message, and I also have a bit of logical difficulty with the
> > wording equating a "column" with a "column name".  The wording that
> > is in use in the existing CREATE TABLE case is
> >
> > column name \"%s\" conflicts with a system column name
> >
> > We could do worse than to use that verbatim, so as to avoid introducing
> > a new translatable string.  Another possibility is
> >
> > column \"%s\" of relation \"%s\" already exists as a system column
> >
> > Or we could keep the primary errmsg the same as it is for a normal
> > column and instead add a DETAIL explaining that this is a system column.
>
> I intended for the message to match the CREATE TABLE case.  I think it
> does, except I see now that Vik's patch left out the word "name" where
> the original string has it.  So I'll vote in favor of your first
> option, above, since that's what I intended anyway.
>

My intention was to replicate the CREATE TABLE message; I'm not sure how I
failed on that particular point.  Thank you guys for noticing and fixing it
(along with all the other corrections).