Re: Add comments for a postgres program in bootstrap mode

Hello Tom,

On Fri, Sep 27, 2019 at 12:23 AM Tom Lane <tgl(at)sss(dot)pgh(dot)pa(dot)us> wrote:
>
> Youki Shiraishi <shiraishi(at)computer(dot)org> writes:
> > On Thu, Sep 26, 2019 at 5:38 PM Amit Langote <amitlangote09(at)gmail(dot)com> wrote:
> >> * The main entry point for auxiliary processes, such as the bgwriter,
> >> - * walwriter, walreceiver, bootstrapper and the shared memory checker code.
> >> + * walwriter, walreceiver, postgres program in bootstrap mode and the
> >> + * shared memory checker code.
> >>
> >> This change may not be necessary, because, bootstrapper is a good
> >> short name for 'postgres program in bootstrap mode'. Also, this name
> >> is similar in style to the names of other auxiliary processes.
>
> > Thank you for reviewing my patch.
> > My concern is that the word 'bootstrapper' is ambiguous.
> > If the word is obvious to hackers, please use the v2 patch attached to
> > this email.
>
> A quick grep through the sources finds that "bootstrapper" is used
> in exactly two places (here, and one comment in initdb.c). I don't
> think it's accepted jargon at all, and would vote to get rid of it.
> What I think *is* the usual phrasing is "bootstrap-mode backend"
> or variants of that.

I also vote to get rid of such ambiguous stuff.
As you can see by grepping, "bootstrap-mode backend" (and something
like that) is also called in the sources as:

- bootstrap backend
- (basic) bootstrap process
- backend running in bootstrap mode
- postgres (backend) program in bootstrap mode
- bootstrapper

I think "bootstrap backend" is a strong candidate for an alternative
of "bootstrapper" because it is used in the official documentation of
initdb.
--
Youki Shiraishi
NTT Software Innovation Center
Phone: +81-(0)3-5860-5115
Email: shiraishi(at)computer(dot)org