Re: doc: clarify wal_sender_shutdown_timeout behavior for small values

> On Jul 17, 2026, at 18:41, Daniel Gustafsson <daniel(at)yesql(dot)se> wrote:
>
>> On 17 Jul 2026, at 12:00, Fujii Masao <masao(dot)fujii(at)gmail(dot)com> wrote:
>
>> This is docs, not error message, but as error message style guide suggests,
>> the word "non-negative" basically should be avoided since it's ambiguous
>> about whether it accepts zero?
>
> Yes, "non-negative" should absolutely be avoided.
>
>> If we document what a value of 0 means, isn't it better to add a brief
>> description about the value 0 to postgresql.conf.sample and guc_parameters.dat
>> as well?
>
> I think the bigger picture here is that IMO a user can be forgiven for thinking
> at -1 and 0 are equal based on this sentence:
>
> "A value of <literal>-1</literal> (the default) disables the timeout
> mechanism"
>
> To me as a non-native speaker reading that a timeout is disabled can be
> interpreted as if there is no waiting done, just like the in the case of 0. +1
> on documenting that 0 means immediate shutdown (though that is sort of implied)
> but I think we at the same time should expand the above sentence to clarify
> that -1 means waiting. After reading the docs I had to read the code to be
> sure I had it right.
>
> --
> Daniel Gustafsson
>

Thanks, everyone, for your comments. PFA v3 that attempts to address them all.

Best regards,
--
Chao Li (Evan)
HighGo Software Co., Ltd.
https://www.highgo.com/