Re: [PATCH] Log CSV by default

Andres Freund <andres(at)anarazel(dot)de> writes:
> On 2018-11-30 19:53:18 +0100, David Fetter wrote:
>> This makes it much simpler for computers to use the logs while not
>> making it excessively difficult for humans to use them.

> While perhaps not excessively so, I think it increases the difficulty
> sufficiently that I'm against such a proposal.

I don't like this either. People who prefer CSV format can select it
trivially. Those who don't are going to be annoyed at us for changing
behavior that's stood for many years.

Also, in addition to the objections you noted, there's the problem that
this change requires changing logging_collector to default to "on".
That's an *enormous* compatibility break, because of the effects on
where the log output goes. Not to mention having performance impacts
that can be significant.

I think we should reject this out of hand.

> I think having a bin/pg_logparse tool that can parse postgres' config
> file and attempt to parse the log contents in whatever format they are
> would be much much more useful. Obviously not every log_line_prefix can
> be parsed unambiguously, but a lot of formats can, and a lot more
> formats can be made unambiguous (e.g. adding escape logic to application
> name logging would be very useful).

Yeah, it might be possible to make some progress in those directions.

regards, tom lane