On Tue, Oct 1, 2019 at 8:45 PM Rafia Sabih <rafia.pghack...@gmail.com> wrote:
> On Tue, 1 Oct 2019 at 16:48, Fabien COELHO <coe...@cri.ensmp.fr> wrote: > >> >> >> Yeah, I know that, but this doesn't look quite right. I mean to say >> >> whatever we want to say via this message is correct, but I am not >> >> completely happy with the display part. How about something like: >> >> "pgbench_accounts is missing, you need to do initialization (\"pgbench >> >> -i\") in database \"%s\"\n"? Feel free to propose something else on >> >> similar lines? If possible, I want to convey this information in a >> single >> >> sentence. >> >> >> >> How about, "pgbench_accounts is missing, initialize (\"pgbench -i\") in >> > database \"%s\"\n"? >> >> I think that we should not presume too much about the solution: perhaps >> the user did not specify the right database or host and it has nothing to >> do with initialization. >> >> Maybe something like: >> >> "pgbench_accounts is missing, perhaps you need to initialize (\"pgbench >> -i\") in database \"%s\"\n" >> >> The two sentences approach has the logic of "error" and a separate "hint" >> which is often used. >> > > +1 for error and hint separation. > Okay, if you people like the approach of two sentences for the separation of "hint" and "error", then I think the second line should end with a period. See below note in docs[1]: "Grammar and Punctuation The rules are different for primary error messages and for detail/hint messages: Primary error messages: Do not capitalize the first letter. Do not end a message with a period. Do not even think about ending a message with an exclamation point. Detail and hint messages: Use complete sentences, and end each with a period. Capitalize the first word of sentences. Put two spaces after the period if another sentence follows (for English text; might be inappropriate in other languages)." Also, the similar style is used in other places in code, see contrib/oid2name/oid2name.c, contrib/pg_standby/pg_standby.c for similar usage. I shall modify this before commit unless you disagree. [1] - https://www.postgresql.org/docs/devel/error-style-guide.html -- With Regards, Amit Kapila. EnterpriseDB: http://www.enterprisedb.com
