Re: Fix output of zero privileges in psql

Laurenz Albe <laurenz.albe@cybertec.at>

From: Laurenz Albe <laurenz.albe@cybertec.at>
To: Erik Wienhold <ewie@ewie.name>
Cc: PostgreSQL Hackers <pgsql-hackers@lists.postgresql.org>
Date: 2023-10-09T07:54:23Z
Lists: pgsql-hackers

Attachments

On Mon, 2023-10-09 at 03:53 +0200, Erik Wienhold wrote:
> On 2023-10-08 06:14 +0200, Laurenz Albe write:
> > On Sat, 2023-10-07 at 20:41 +0200, Erik Wienhold wrote:
> > > > If you are happy enough with my patch, shall we mark it as ready for
> > > > committer?
> > > 
> > > I amended your patch to also document the effect of \pset null in this
> > > case.  See the attached v2.
> > 
> > +1
> > 
> > If you mention in ddl.sgml that you can use "\pset null" to distinguish
> > default from no privileges, you should mention that this only works with
> > psql.  Many people out there don't use psql.
> 
> I don't think this is necessary because that section in ddl.sgml is
> already about psql and \dp.

You are right.

> > Also, I'm not sure if "zero privileges" will be readily understood by
> > everybody.  Perhaps "no privileges at all, even for the object owner"
> > would be a better wording.
> 
> Changed in v3 to "empty privileges" with an explanation that this means
> "no privileges at all, even for the object owner".

Looks good.

> > Perhaps it would also be good to mention this in the psql documentation.
> 
> Just once under  \pset null  with a reference to section 5.7?  Something
> like "This is also useful for distinguishing default privileges from
> empty privileges as explained in Section 5.7."
> 
> Or instead under every command affected by this change?  \dp and \ddp
> already have such a reference ("The meaning of the privilege display is
> explained in Section 5.7.")
> 
> I prefer the first one because it's less effort ;)  Also done in v3.

I think that sufficient.

I tinkered a bit with your documentation.  For example, the suggestion to
"\pset null" seemed to be in an inappropriate place.  Tell me what you think.

Yours,
Laurenz Albe

Commits

  1. Improve default and empty privilege outputs in psql.