Re: REPACK and naming

On Wed, Sep 17, 2025 at 10:59:55AM -0400, Robert Haas wrote:
> On Wed, Sep 17, 2025 at 10:22 AM Tom Lane <tgl(at)sss(dot)pgh(dot)pa(dot)us> wrote:
> > By and large, I don't think I like this renaming proposal.
> > Maybe eventually it would reduce confusion, but there will be
> > a long interval where it adds more.
>
> I mean, it's PRETTY confusing that VACUUM FULL does something much
> more similar to CLUSTER than it is to VACUUM. We can't ever get out
> from under that confusion if we don't change something. I think it's
> more than fair to bikeshed what the verb should be that describes the
> action we currently describe by writing either VACUUM FULL or CLUSTER,
> but I agree with Álvaro that having one verb for both of those things
> makes a lot more sense than the status quo.

Yeah, I think we are in a bad naming place here with VACUUM FULL and
CLUSTER, and avoiding clarifying it because of a risk of future change
just seems unwise. We know it is confusing, and there are no plans to
expand VACUUM FULL or CLUSTER, so let's improve the user interface and
take the hit if things ever change in the future.

--
Bruce Momjian <bruce(at)momjian(dot)us> https://momjian.us
EDB https://enterprisedb.com

Do not let urgent matters crowd out time for investment in the future.