> Right on. Some of these "coerced" plans may perform > much better.
If so, we can look at tweaking your runtime
> config: e.g.
>
> effective_cache_size
> random_page_cost
> default_statistics_target
>
> to see if said plans can be chosen "naturally".
I see this over and over. Tweak the parameters to "force" a certain
plan, because there's no formal way for a developer to say, "I know the
best plan."
No, this is "fixing your wrongn, inaccurate parameters so that
postgresql can choose a better plan".
I don't necessarily disagree with your assertion that we need planner
hints, but unless you or someone else is willing to submit a patch with
the feature it's unlikely to ever be implemented...
Chris