I wrote: > No, I think Bruce fixed this recently. It's just a cosmetic mistake in > the error message so we didn't back-patch it. No, strike that, I remember the discussion now. The pre-8.2 code is correct on its own terms, which is that it's telling you what size number you tried to put in: regression=# select '123123123123123.2'::numeric(12,2); ERROR: numeric field overflow DETAIL: The absolute value is greater than or equal to 10^14 for field with precision 12, scale 2. regression=# select '12123123123123123.2'::numeric(12,2); ERROR: numeric field overflow DETAIL: The absolute value is greater than or equal to 10^16 for field with precision 12, scale 2. regression=# Bruce and some other people thought this was confusing, so it's been changed for 8.2. regards, tom lane
