Why doesn't psql use the information schema to get ACL description ?

On tis, 2011-08-23 at 12:48 -0400, Dave Cramer wrote:

Recently a bug was reported on the JDBC list regarding table
privileges. It turns out that we have not been parsing the ACL tables
correctly. This is partially due to having to track the catalogs
through each version. So this breaks down into two questions

1) is it possible to get all of the ACL data from the information_schema ?
2) If so why doesn't psql use these tables ?

Ultimately my ulterior motive is to make sure the information schema
is actually useful and ensure that it maintains that status.

The information schema only exposes privileges defined in the SQL
standard on objects defined in the SQL standard. So psql or any tool
that wants to provide information on PostgreSQL-specific features can't
use that. But perhaps the JDBC interfaces only expose certain standard
information anyway, so it could be useful. Depends on the details,
though.

On Aug 23, 2011, at 1:57 PM, Peter Eisentraut wrote:

Ultimately my ulterior motive is to make sure the information schema
is actually useful and ensure that it maintains that status.

The information schema only exposes privileges defined in the SQL
standard on objects defined in the SQL standard. So psql or any tool
that wants to provide information on PostgreSQL-specific features can't
use that. But perhaps the JDBC interfaces only expose certain standard
information anyway, so it could be useful. Depends on the details,
though.

Related to this is the newsysviews project, which was intended to present more human-friendly info ala info_schema, but to also provide PostgreSQL-specific information (which info_schema can't).
--
Jim C. Nasby, Database Architect jim@nasby.net
512.569.9461 (cell) http://jim.nasby.net

On Thu, Aug 25, 2011 at 5:51 PM, Jim Nasby <jim@nasby.net> wrote:

On Aug 23, 2011, at 1:57 PM, Peter Eisentraut wrote:

Ultimately my ulterior motive is to make sure the information schema
is actually useful and ensure that it maintains that status.

The information schema only exposes privileges defined in the SQL
standard on objects defined in the SQL standard.  So psql or any tool
that wants to provide information on PostgreSQL-specific features can't
use that.  But perhaps the JDBC interfaces only expose certain standard
information anyway, so it could be useful.  Depends on the details,
though.

Related to this is the newsysviews project, which was intended to present more human-friendly info ala info_schema, but to also provide PostgreSQL-specific information (which info_schema can't).

I'll have to have a look at this when I get a moment, sounds
promising. Will be even better if we get all clients using it.

Dave Cramer

dave.cramer(at)credativ(dot)ca
http://www.credativ.ca