Robert Haas <robertmhaas@gmail.com> writes:
> I think the only way to make the effects of an EXPLAIN ANALYZE
> statement be automatically rolled back would be to wrap the entire
> operation in a subtransaction. While we could certainly implement
> that, it might have its own share of surprises; for example, it would
> consume an XID, leading to faster wraparound vacuums if you do it
> frequently.
Right, but it's just automating something that people now do by hand
(ie manually wrap the EXPLAIN in BEGIN/ROLLBACK) when that's what they
need. I think the idea of having an option to do it for you isn't bad.
I'm strongly against changing the very-longstanding default behavior of
EXPLAIN ANALYZE, though; the villagers at your doorstep will not be
bringing flowers. So this new option has to *not* default to on.
As far as the general topic of the thread goes, I like the idea of
controlling EXPLAIN options on the client side way better than inventing
statement-behavior-altering GUCs. We learned our lesson about that a
decade or two back; only those who don't remember propose new ones.
regards, tom lane