Re: Remove unused function parameters, part 2: replication

Bertrand Drouvot <bertranddrouvot.pg@gmail.com>

From: Bertrand Drouvot <bertranddrouvot.pg@gmail.com>
To: Daniel Gustafsson <daniel@yesql.se>
Cc: Michael Paquier <michael@paquier.xyz>, Andres Freund <andres@anarazel.de>, pgsql-hackers@lists.postgresql.org
Date: 2025-12-02T14:28:48Z
Lists: pgsql-hackers
Hi,

On Tue, Dec 02, 2025 at 09:31:34AM +0100, Daniel Gustafsson wrote:
> > On 2 Dec 2025, at 08:32, Michael Paquier <michael@paquier.xyz> wrote:
> 
> > Simple example I have seen in the past: a Relation argument not used
> > (I think there has been at least one such example in tablecmds.c,
> > whatever).  Removing this argument also meant that we don't require
> > function callers to open a Relation, removing the need to think about
> > the lock it would require at open.

Yeah, that's a strong argument.

> I think this is the really interesting case and the angle to focus on.  If we
> can simplify callers to perhaps even avoid locks then that's a stronger case
> when considering potential API breaks.  It might still be more value in not
> breaking API, but that would have to be considered on a case by case basis.

I fully agree. That said I'm still skeptical that we need to provide a strong
justification (as the one above) to remove an unused parameter.

Regards,

-- 
Bertrand Drouvot
PostgreSQL Contributors Team
RDS Open Source Databases
Amazon Web Services: https://aws.amazon.com