TODO list for PostgreSQL
========================
-Last updated: Sat Jan 26 23:20:24 EST 2002
+Last updated: Sat Jan 26 23:22:17 EST 2002
Current maintainer: Bruce Momjian (pgman@candle.pha.pa.us)
The most recent version of this document can be viewed at
the PostgreSQL web site, http://www.PostgreSQL.org.
-A dash (-) marks changes that will appear in the upcoming 7.2 release.
+A dash (-) marks changes that will appear in the upcoming 7.3 release.
Bracketed items "[]" have more detailed.
-RELIABILITY
------------
-
-* -SELECT pg_class FROM pg_class generates strange error (Bruce)
-
-
ENHANCEMENTS
------------
* Allow elog() to return error codes, module name, file name, line
number, not just messages (Peter E)
* Add error codes (Peter E)
-* -Allow international error message support (Peter E)
* Change DEBUG startup tag to NOTICE; change NOTICE to output to client
only if client exists (Bruce)
* Show location of syntax error in query [yacc]
-* -Populate backend status area and write program to dump status data (Jan)
PERMISSIONS
user/host/password combinations
* Remove PGPASSWORD because is insecure on some OS's
* Make single-user local access permissions the default (Peter E)
-* -Allow single-user access without passwords using Unix socket permissions
-* -Better document pg_hba.conf host-based authentication (Bruce)
-* -Add MD5 to ODBC (Bruce)
* Use thread-safe crypt() in libpq, if available
ADMIN
* Make it easier to create a database owned by someone who can't createdb,
perhaps CREATE DATABASE dbname WITH OWNER = "user" (Gavin)
* Make equals sign optional in CREATE DATABASE WITH param = 'val'
-* -Permission to DELETE table also allows UPDATE (Peter E)
-* -Remove unused sort files on postmaster startup (Bruce)
* Remove unreferenced table files and temp tables during database vacuum
or postmaster startup (Bruce)
-* -Remove unreferenced sort files during postmaster startup (Bruce)
* Add table name mapping for numeric file names (Bruce)
-* -Encrypt passwords in pg_shadow table using MD5 (Bruce, Vince)
* Remove behavior of postmaster -o after making postmaster/postgres
flags unique
* Allow logging of query durations
-* -Put sort files in their own directory (Bruce)
DATA TYPES
* SELECT cash_out(2) crashes because of opaque
* Declare typein/out functions in pg_proc with a special "C string" data type
* Functions returning sets do not totally work
-* -Add SQL standard function bit_length() (Peter E)
-* -Make oid use unsigned int more reliably (Tom)
* Change factorial to return a numeric
* Add function to return compressed length of TOAST data values (Tom)
* CONVERSION
- o -Add conversion function from text to inet
o Store binary-compatible type information in the system
o Allow better handling of numeric constants, type conversion
[typeconv]
o Support construction of array result values in expressions
* BINARY DATA
- o -Add non-large-object binary field (already exists -- bytea)
- o -Make binary interface for TOAST columns (base64)
o Improve vacuum of large objects, like /contrib/vacuumlo
o Add security checking for large objects
o Make file in/out interface for TOAST columns, similar to large object
* Add NCHAR (as distinguished from ordinary varchar),
* Allow LOCALE on a per-column basis, default to ASCII
* Support multiple simultaneous character sets, per SQL92
-* -Reject character sequences those are not valid in their charset (Tatsuo)
-* -Make functions more multi-byte aware, e.g. trim() (Tatsuo)
-* -Make n of CHAR(n)/VARCHAR(n) the number of letters, not bytes (Tatsuo)
* Allow setting database character set without multibyte enabled
* Improve Unicode combined character handling
* Optimize locale to have minimal performance impact when not used (Peter E)
-* -Optimize textlength(), etc. for single-byte encodings (Tatsuo)
* Add octet_length_server() and octet_length_client() (Thomas, Tatsuo)
* Make octet_length_client the same as octet_length() (?)
* Automatically create rules on views so they are updateable, per SQL92 [view]
* Add the functionality for WITH CHECK OPTION clause of CREATE VIEW
* Allow NOTIFY in rules involving conditionals
-* -Evaluate INSERT rules at end of query, rather than beginning (Jan)
* Allow temporary views
* Move psql backslash information into views
* Allow RULE recompilation
* Allow CREATE INDEX zman_index ON test (date_trunc( 'day', zman ) datetime_ops)
fails index can't store constant parameters
* Order duplicate index entries by tid for faster heap lookups
-* -Re-enable partial indexes
-* -Prevent pg_attribute from having duplicate oids for indexes (Tom)
* Allow inherited tables to inherit index, UNIQUE constraint, and primary
key, foreign key [inheritance]
* UNIQUE INDEX on base column not honored on inserts from inherited table
* Use index to restrict rows returned by multi-key index when used with
non-consecutive keys or OR clauses, so fewer heap accesses
* Be smarter about insertion of already-ordered data into btree index
-* -Gather more accurate dispersion statistics using indexes (Tom)
* Add deleted bit to index tuples to reduce heap access
* Prevent index uniqueness checks when UPDATE does not modifying column
* Add bitmap indexes [performance]
* Improve handling of index scans for NULL
* Allow SELECT * FROM tab WHERE int2col = 4 to use int2col index, int8,
float4, numeric/decimal too [optimizer]
-* -Use indexes with CIDR '<<' (contains) operator
* Improve concurrency in GIST
* Add FILLFACTOR to index creation
-SYSTEM TABLES
-
-* -Add unique indexes to pg_shadow.usename and pg_shadow.usesysid or
- switch to pg_shadow.oid as user id (Tom)
-* -Add unique indexes on pg_database (Tom)
-* -Check all system tables and add unique indexes as needed (Tom)
-* -Remove pg_listener index (Tom)
-* -Remove unused pg_variable, pg_inheritproc, pg_ipl tables (Bruce)
-
COMMANDS
* Add SIMILAR TO to allow character classes, 'pg_[a-c]%'
* Add BETWEEN ASYMMETRIC/SYMMETRIC
-* -Allow LOCK TABLE tab1, tab2, tab3 so all tables locked in unison
* Remove LIMIT #,# and force use LIMIT and OFFSET clauses in 7.3 (Bruce)
* Allow LIMIT/OFFSET to use expressions
-* -Allow GRANT/REVOKE to handle multiple user/group names (Vince)
-* -Allow CREATEUSER/CREATEDB ordering in CREATE/ALTER USER (Vince)
* Disallow TRUNCATE on tables that are involved in referential constraints
* Add OR REPLACE clauses to non-FUNCTION object creation
* CREATE TABLE AS can not determine column lengths from expressions [atttypmod]
o Add ALTER TABLE DROP COLUMN feature [drop] (Bruce)
o Add ALTER FUNCTION
o Add ALTER TABLE DROP non-CHECK CONSTRAINT
- o -Add ALTER TABLE DROP CHECK CONSTRAINT (Christopher Kings-Lynne)
o ALTER TABLE ADD PRIMARY KEY (Christopher Kings-Lynne)
o ALTER TABLE ADD UNIQUE (Christopher Kings-Lynne)
o ALTER TABLE ADD COLUMN column SERIAL doesn't create sequence
o cluster all tables at once
o prevent lose of indexes, permissions, inheritance (Bruce)
o Automatically maintain clustering on a table
- o -Keep statistics about clustering (Tom) [optimizer]
* COPY
o Allow specification of column names
* SHOW/SET
o Add SHOW command to display locks
- o -Add SHOW command to show all settings
- o -Add a global RESET command for use with connection pooling
o Add SET or BEGIN timeout parameter to cancel query
o Add SET REAL_FORMAT and SET DOUBLE_PRECISION_FORMAT using printf args
o Remove SET KSQO option now that OR processing is improved (Tom)
CLIENTS
-* -Make NULL's come out at the beginning or end depending on the
- ORDER BY direction (Tom)
* Have pg_dump use LEFT OUTER JOIN in multi-table SELECTs
or multiple SELECTS to avoid bad system catalog entries
* Have pg_dump -C dump database location and encoding information
* Allow psql \d to show foreign keys
* Allow psql \d to show temporary table structure
* Add XML interface: psql, pg_dump, COPY, separate server (?)
-* -Fix libpq to properly handle socket failures under native MS Win32
* Add config file check for $ODBCINI, $HOME/.odbc.ini, installpath/etc/odbc.ini
* JDBC
o Comprehensive test suite. This may be available already.
o Updateable resultSet (must be done in backend code)
- o -Improved DatabaseMetaData [java]
o JDBC-standard BLOB support
o Error Codes (pending backend implementation)
- o -Support for binary data/bytea
o Support both 'make' and 'ant'
- o -Add MD5 capability
o Fix LargeObject API to handle OIDs as unsigned ints
o Implement cancel() method on Statement
o Use cursors implicitly to avoid large results (see setCursorName())
* ECPG
o Implement set descriptor, using descriptor
o Make casts work in variable initializations
- o -Allow variable to specify the connection name
- o -Fix variable handling in EXEC SQL AT statement
o Implement SQLDA
- o -Allow SELECT of array of strings into a auto-sized variable
o Solve cardinality > 1 for input descriptors / variables
o Understand structure definitions outside a declare section
o sqlwarn[6] should be 'W' if the PRECISION or SCALE value specified
o Improve error handling
o Allow :var[:index] or :var[<integer>] as cvariable for an array var
o Add a semantic check level, e.g. check if a table really exists
- o -Remove space_or_nl and line_end from pgc.l
o Fix nested C comments
o Add SQLSTATE
o fix handling of DB attributes that are arrays
REFERENTIAL INTEGRITY
* Add MATCH PARTIAL referential integrity [foreign]
-* -Check that primary key exists at foreign key definition time
* Add deferred trigger queue file (Jan)
* Allow oid to act as a foreign key
* Implement dirty reads and use them in RI triggers
* Make triggers refer to columns by number, not name
* Enforce referential integrity for system tables
-* -INSERT & UPDATE/DELETE in transaction of primary key fails with
- deferredTriggerGetPreviousEvent or "change violation"
* Allow user to control trigger firing order
* Change foreign key constraint for array -> element to mean element
in array
* Allow autocommit so always in a transaction block
* Overhaul bufmgr/lockmgr/transaction manager
* Allow savepoints / nested transactions [transactions]
-* -Handle transaction rollover (Tom) [transactions]
EXOTIC FEATURES
* Improve speed with indexes (perhaps recreate index instead) [vacuum]
* Reduce lock time by moving tuples with read lock, then write
lock and truncate table [vacuum]
-* -Make ANALYZE a separate command (Tom)
-* -Allow ANALYZE to ESTIMATE based on certain random percentage of rows (Tom)
* Add LAZY VACUUM (Vadim) [performance]
LOCKING
from distributted.net, http://www1.distributed.net/source,
in client/common/cpucheck.cpp
* Research use of sched_yield() for spinlock acquisition failure
-* -Improve spinlock code [performance] (Tom)
STARTUP TIME
MISCELLANEOUS
-* -Allow compression of log and meta data (Tom)
* Do async I/O for faster random read-ahead of data
* Get faster regex() code from Henry Spencer <henry@zoo.utoronto.ca>
when it is available
* Use mmap() rather than SYSV shared memory or to write WAL files (?) [mmap]
-* -Allow GUC configuration of maximum number of open files (Tom)
-* -Improve statistics storage in pg_class [performance] (Tom)
-* -Read pg_hba.conf only on postmaster startup or SIGHUP (Bruce)
SOURCE CODE
-----------
* Add use of 'const' for variables in source tree
-* -Convert remaining fprintf(stderr,...)/perror() to elog() (Peter E)
* Fix problems with libpq non-blocking/async code [async]
-* -Merge global and template BKI files (Tom)
-* -Fix username/password length limits in all areas, e.g. pg_passwd
-* -Remove compile-time upper limit on number of backends (MAXBACKENDS) (Tom)
* Make sure all block numbers are unsigned to increase maximum table size
* Use BlockNumber rather than int where appropriate
* Merge LockMethodCtl and LockMethodTable into one shared structure (Bruce)
* Remove warnings created by -Wcast-align
* Move platform-specific ps status display info from ps_status.c to ports
* Allow ps status display to work on Solaris/SVr4-based systems
-* -Decide on spelling of indexes/indices (Peter E)
-* -Add mention of VACUUM, log rotation to Administrator's Guide (Tom, Bruce)
* Make one version of simple_prompt() in code (Bruce, Tom)
* Compile in syslog functionaility by default (?)
* Modify regression tests to prevent failures do to minor numeric rounding
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