Re: 8.1 system info / admin functions

Neil Conway <neilc(at)samurai(dot)com> writes:
> Two minor gripes about these new functions:
> (1) I think pg_total_relation_size() is a bit more concise and clear
> than pg_complete_relation_size().

> (2) pg_cancel_backend(), pg_reload_conf(), and pg_rotate_logfile() all
> return an int indicating success (1) or failure (0). Why shouldn't these
> functions return a boolean?

> (Presumably there is a good reason why these functions return a status
> code at all, rather than aborting via elog on error -- right?)

I agree with both of those criticisms: total is more in line with our
nomenclature than complete, and the other functions should return void
and ereport when they are unhappy. (Saying "I failed" and not having
any mechanism to report why sucks.)

If we weren't already forcing an initdb for beta2, I'd say it's a bit
late to be complaining ... but we can fix them "for free" right now,
so why not?

regards, tom lane