DOCS - ALTER PUBLICATION - description has confusing slash-list

From: Peter Smith <smithpb2250(at)gmail(dot)com>
To: PostgreSQL Hackers <pgsql-hackers(at)lists(dot)postgresql(dot)org>
Subject: DOCS - ALTER PUBLICATION - description has confusing slash-list
Date: 2026-08-05 03:06:37
Message-ID: CAHut+PuGKrWhVMvuFyf-wSdF-Tai_jPTz2UCSCqsYM-82ATY5w@mail.gmail.com
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I noticed that the Description section of the ALTER PUBLICATION page
[1] has a poorly worded sentence:

"Note that adding tables/except tables/schemas to a publication that
is already subscribed to will require an ALTER SUBSCRIPTION ...
REFRESH PUBLICATION action"

The problem is due to that strange slash-list. Apart from being
difficult to read, it makes it sound as if there's a distinct object
called an "except table", when what's meant is "changing a
publication's EXCEPT list."

PSA patch v1 to reword this using plain English.

~~~

In passing, I've also dropped the word "unset". Mentioning "unset"
only for ALL SEQUENCES (and not ALL TABLES) reads as an unexplained
asymmetry. Turning off ALL TABLES is already covered (e.g by "setting
tables or schemas" and by "set ALL SEQUENCES"), so spelling out
"unset" separately for ALL SEQUENCES isn't needed either -- unsetting
it is just another form of setting something else.

======
[1] https://www.postgresql.org/docs/19/sql-alterpublication.html

Kind Regards,
Peter Smith.
Fujitsu Australia

Attachment Content-Type Size
v1-0001-Docs-ALTER-PUBLICATION-description.patch application/octet-stream 1.9 KB

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