Re: PostgreSQL pollutes the file system

Alvaro Herrera <alvherre(at)2ndquadrant(dot)com> writes:
> I suppose that if you're a Postgres developer, you naturally expect that
> "createdb" creates a Postgres DB. What if you use multiple database
> systems, and then only occasionally have to do DBA tasks? I find this
> POV that createdb doesn't need renaming a bit self-centered.

Nobody is defending the existing names as being something we'd pick
if we were picking them today. The question is whether changing them
is worth the pain. (And, one more time, may I point out that most
of the pain will be borne by people not on this mailing list, hence
unable to vote here.) I don't think there is any reasonable argument
that said pain will be justified for any of them except maybe createuser
and dropuser.

>> "postmaster" symlink, though it's been deprecated for at least a
>> dozen years.)

> I don't think that change was because of executable namespace pollution
> or user confusion. (Commit 5266f221a2e1, can't find the discussion
> though.)

My recollection of the discussion is that people argued that "postmaster"
might be taken to have something to do with an e-mail server, and
therefore we needed to stop using that name. The lack of either follow-on
complaints or follow-on action doesn't make me too well disposed to
what is essentially that same argument over again.

regards, tom lane