Re: GUC time unit spelling a bit inconsistent

Marko Kreen <markokr@gmail.com>

From: "Marko Kreen" <markokr@gmail.com>
To: "Peter Eisentraut" <peter_e@gmx.net>
Cc: "Gregory Stark" <stark@enterprisedb.com>, "Bruce Momjian" <bruce@momjian.us>, "Simon Riggs" <simon@2ndquadrant.com>, "Tom Lane" <tgl@sss.pgh.pa.us>, pgsql-hackers@postgresql.org
Date: 2007-06-21T13:22:29Z
Lists: pgsql-hackers
On 6/21/07, Peter Eisentraut <peter_e@gmx.net> wrote:
> Am Donnerstag, 21. Juni 2007 00:38 schrieb Gregory Stark:
> > > I think people are worried that an 'm' in one column might mean something
> > > different than an 'm' in another column, and perhaps that is confusing.
> >
> > To whom? the person writing it?
>
> If everyone around here had gotten their way we'd already be in a situation
> were you could write
>
> log_rotation_age = 5m
> log_rotation_size = 5m
>
> And someone trained in the metric system would think, "What, five meters?".
> So it rotates when age and size are the same or what?  And the ultimate
> consequence of that thinking is that the PostgreSQL developers are uneducated
> dummies and clearly PostgreSQL cannot be a quality product if they can't even
> get that right.
>
> So by all means add documentation and hints.

Considering Postgres will never user either "meter" or "mile"
in settings, I don't consider your argument valid.

I don't see the value of having units globally unique (literally).
It's enough if they unique in the context of postgresql.conf.

Thus +1 of having additional shortcuts Tom suggested.
Also +1 for having them case-insensitive.

-- 
marko