Re: encoding of PostgreSQL messages

Tom Lane wrote:
> Reflecting on the bigger picture ...  I would imagine that the vast
> majority of existing applications depend on client_encoding settings
> that come from postgresql.conf, ALTER USER SET, ALTER DATABASE SET, or
> just the default (== database encoding).  I don't think a solution that
> penalizes those cases and makes only the case of setting it via
> PGCLIENTENCODING work nicely is going to make very many people happy.

I don't have any survey data available, but I think this assessment is
semantically wrong.  Usefully, the client encoding can come only from
the client, or be defaulted (and even that is semantically wrong).  I
see the other cases as workarounds.