[Jim C. Nasby - Mon at 04:18:27PM -0500] > I can agree to that, but we'll never get any progress so long as every > time hints are brought up the response is that they're evil and should > never be in the database. I'll also say that a very simple hinting > language (ie: allowing you to specify access method for a table, and > join methods) would go a huge way towards enabling app developers to get > stuff done now while waiting for all these magical optimizer > improvements that have been talked about for years. Just a comment from the side line; can't the rough "set enable_seqscan=off" be considered as sort of a hint anyway? There have been situations where we've actually had to resort to such crud. Beeing able to i.e. force a particular index is something I really wouldn't put into the application except for as a very last resort, _but_ beeing able to force i.e. the use of a particular index in an interactive 'explain analyze'-query would often be ... if not outright useful, then at least very interessting.
