Re: doc: Clarify ANALYZE VERBOSE output

Maciek Sakrejda <m.sakrejda@gmail.com>

From: Maciek Sakrejda <m.sakrejda@gmail.com>
To: Shinya Kato <shinya11.kato@gmail.com>
Cc: "David G. Johnston" <david.g.johnston@gmail.com>, Fujii Masao <masao.fujii@gmail.com>, maciek@sakrejda.org, pgsql-docs@lists.postgresql.org
Date: 2026-04-13T21:26:23Z
Lists: pgsql-docs
On Tue, Apr 7, 2026 at 6:57 PM Shinya Kato <shinya11.kato@gmail.com> wrote:
> On Mon, Apr 6, 2026, 14:17 David G. Johnston <david.g.johnston@gmail.com> wrote:
>>
>> How about something like:
>> “Enables sending an INFO message to the client (and server log) as each table is processed.  This message contains: etc…”
>>
>> And then let’s tell the user what info they are getting and what it means (where necessary).
>>
>> I concur being specific about when these messages arrive, and IMO where, should be specified.  But losing the detail of “report” is not good; but not sure why we are being vague so suggest we just go all-in on specificity.
>
> Thank you for the suggestion. I'd prefer to keep this patch focused; since the verbose output of both commands is subject to change, listing every individual field in the documentation would require frequent updates.
>
> I believe the current "Outputs" section is intentionally kept simple to minimize maintenance overhead. While expanding it might be a worthwhile follow-up, it probably deserves its own dedicated discussion.

+1, listing output details is signing up for busywork. But I do like
the  “as each table is processed" wording: it's clear on when you'll
see output. Given the feedback above (that just using the word
"progress" obscures that you'll see actual stats), maybe something
along these lines:

"Prints detailed stats at <literal>INFO</literal> level for each table
as it is processed."

? I still think "report" is the wrong term for something that happens
incrementally.

I don't feel strongly about this, though: if everyone is okay with
consolidating on the existing VACUUM wording, that's still better than
inconsistency.

Thanks,
Maciek