Re: [WIP] pg_ping utility

"David Johnston" <polobo@yahoo.com> writes:
>> Yeah, I know a whole new executable is kind of a pain, and the amount of
>> infrastructure and added maintenance seems a bit high compared to what
>> this does.  But a lot of the programs in src/bin/scripts are not much
>> bigger. (In fact that might be the best place for this.)

> This seems to be begging for a canonical "pg_monitor" command where
> "pg_ping" would be one sub-command.  A bit much for a single command but it
> would provide a frame onto which additional user interfaces could be hung -
> though I am lacking for concrete examples at the moment.

Meh.  If we had near-term plans for more such subcommands, that might
make sense.  But I think all that's really wanted here is a command-line
wrapper around the libpq PQping() functionality.  People who are trying
to build more complex monitoring tools are likely to be using PQping()
directly anyway, rather than invoking a command-line tool.

> With the recent focus on pg_stat_statements and the current WIP on
> "pg_lwlocks" having an official UI for accessing much of this kind data has
> merit.

None of that stuff is accessible without opening up an actual database
connection, and IMO the whole point of PQping is that it *doesn't* open
a connection and thus doesn't get into problems of user authentication.
So I really think it's a different sort of animal that needs a separate
API.
        regards, tom lane