PostgreSQL Query Catalog

"Names in software are 90 percent of what make software readable. You need to take the time to choose them wisely and keep them relevant. Names are too important to treat carelessly. Names should not cause confusion." (Robert C. Martin, Clean Code) Names should not cause confusion. Find the names (identifiers) of user-defined objects that are SQL keywords that are not completely unreserved in PostgreSQL, i.e., these either never cannot be used as regular identifiers or cannot be used in case of some type of database objects. In PostgreSQL "there are several different classes of tokens ranging from those that can never be used as an identifier to those that have absolutely no special status in the parser as compared to an ordinary identifier. " (PostgreSQL manual) Moreover, such identifiers are often too general, i.e., do not provide enough information about the named object.

Write code that is easy to understand and not unnecessarily long. A routine cannot have two or more parameters with the same name. In this case using longer identifier in the form routine_name.parameter name is unnecessary.

Find the constraint types in case of which there exists system-defined names.

Find the constraint types in case of which there exists system-defined names.

"Names in software are 90 percent of what make software readable. You need to take the time to choose them wisely and keep them relevant. Names are too important to treat carelessly. Names should not cause confusion." (Robert C. Martin, Clean Code) Names should not cause confusion. Find the distinct names (identifiers) of user-defined objects that are SQL keywords that are completely unreserved in PostgreSQL. In PostgreSQL "there are several different classes of tokens ranging from those that can never be used as an identifier to those that have absolutely no special status in the parser as compared to an ordinary identifier. " (PostgreSQL manual) Although the names are unreserved keywords in PostgreSQL these could be reserved keywords in other systems, which would complicate database migration. Moreover, such identifiers are often too general, i.e., do not provide enough information about the named object.

"Names in software are 90 percent of what make software readable. You need to take the time to choose them wisely and keep them relevant. Names are too important to treat carelessly. Names should not cause confusion." (Robert C. Martin, Clean Code) Names should not cause confusion. Find the names (identifiers) of user-defined objects that are SQL keywords that are completely unreserved in PostgreSQL. In PostgreSQL "there are several different classes of tokens ranging from those that can never be used as an identifier to those that have absolutely no special status in the parser as compared to an ordinary identifier. " (PostgreSQL manual) Although the names are unreserved keywords in PostgreSQL these could be reserved keywords in other systems, which would complicate database migration. Moreover, such identifiers are often too general, i.e., do not provide enough information about the named object. Think as to whether some better name would be possible.

Find for each base table the last time when the table has been vacuumed or analyzed (either manually or automatically).

Find user-defined SQL and PL/pgSQL routines that do not return a value although the name suggest that it should return a value (starts with "validate" or "check").

Find views that do not have the security barrier option.

Find views that have the security invoker option. Such option is possible starting from PostgreSQL 15. In case of using such views one cannot create a system where data is accessed through views and the users (applications) do not have direct access to the base tables.

Find updatable views that have WITH LOCAL CHECK OPTION constraint. The predicate of a view is the conjunction of the predicates of its (directly and indirectly) underlying tables (both base tables and derived tables) as well as the predicate of the view itself. In case of using WITH LOCAL CHECK OPTION constraint "New rows are only checked against the conditions defined directly in the view itself. Any conditions defined on underlying base views are not checked (unless they also specify the CHECK OPTION)." (PostgreSQL manual) Thus, use instead WITH CASCADED CHECK option to instruct the system to check new rows against the entire predicate of the view.

Find views with security invoker option that do not have any underlying base table with a security policy. Security invoker option of views is possible starting from PostgreSQL 15. "The main use case (and the one that inspired the feature) is to be able to use views and still check row-level security policies on the underlying tables as the invoker."

Find views that do not have the security barrier option but restrict rows in some way.