Re: [GENERAL] CURRENT_TIMESTAMP

"Josh Berkus" <josh(at)agliodbs(dot)com> writes:
> So, if I've got this straight:
> [ snip ]
> ... thus changing only current_timestamp.

Yeah, that's more or less what I was thinking. The argument for
changing current_timestamp seems to be really just spec compliance;
that doesn't apply to now() or timeofday().

> Better yet, how about we introduce a parameter to now()? Example:
> now() or now('transaction') returns the transaction timestamp.
> now('statement') returns the statement timestamp
> now('immediate') returns the timestamp at the exact time the function
> is called.

I like this.

> We could introduce the new version of now() in 7.4, encourage everyone
> to use it instead of other timestamp calls, and then in 7.5 change the
> behavior of current_timestamp for SQL92 compliance.

I'd be inclined to just do it; we have not been very good about
following through on multi-version sequences of changes. And the
folks who want a standard-compliant current_timestamp aren't going
to want to migrate to now('statement') instead ...

regards, tom lane