Re: Survey: renaming/removing script binaries (createdb, createuser...)

On Mar 26, 2008, at 7:25 AM, Zdeněk Kotala wrote:
> Hello All,
>
> I prepared patch for renaming postgreSQL script tools like createdb,
> createuser, etc. to pg_createdb, pg_creteuser. Original names will
> be kept for 2 or 3 following versions. The main reason for the patch
> is to avoid possible clash of names with systems tools.

There are no existing clashes with system tools that I'm aware of. Are
there any? Most of the clashes are with other installations of
postgresql installed on the same machine, so if name clashes is the
real reason for the change, then the version number or port number of
the installation should be part of the command name - pg_8.3.1_psql,
and so on.

The normal way of dealing with multiple installations and name clashes
would be to set your shell path appropriately, though, surely? It's a
more normal way of dealing with that than renaming the actual binaries.

If, on the other hand, the main reason behind name changes were to
make the naming more intuitive for new users then changing the names
to something more appropriate might be useful. Perhaps something like
changing "postmaster" to "postgresqld", "pg_ctl" to
"safe_postgresqld", change "psql" to "postgresql", replace "createuser
-s monty" with "postgresql --user=root", followed by "GRANT ALL
PRIVILEGES ON *.* TO 'monty'@'localhost';" and so on.

Cheers,
Steve

>
>
> And after long discussion on patches and hackers list we have made a
> decision than we need input from wide audience. This is a reason why
> I prepare following surveys.
>
> See:
> http://archives.postgresql.org/pgsql-hackers/2008-03/msg01006.php
> http://archives.postgresql.org/pgsql-patches/2007-07/msg00055.php
>
>
> Please let us know your meaning,
>
> thanks Zdenek Kotala
>
>
> 1) What type of names do you prefer?
> -------------------------------
>
> a) old notation - createdb, createuser ...
> b) new one with pg_ prefix - pg_createdb, pg_creteuser ...
> c) new one with pg prefix - pgcreatedb, pgcreateuser ...
> d) remove them - psql is the solution
> e) remove them - pgadmin is the solution
>
>
> 2) How often do you use these tools?
> -----------------------------------
>
> a) every day (e.g. in my cron)
> b) one per week
> c) one time
> d) never
>
>
> 3) What name of initdb do you prefer?
> ---------- --------------------------
>
> a) initdb
> b) pg_initdb
> c) pg_init
> d) pg_ctl -d <dir> init (replace initdb with pg_ctl new
> functionality)
> e) What is initdb? My start/stop script does it automatically.
>
> 4) How do you perform VACUUM?
> -----------------------------
>
> a) vacuumdb - shell command
> b) VACUUM - SQL command
> c) autovacuum
> d) What is vacuum?
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
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