Re: BUG #6626: union all with values of type "unknown"

Robert Haas <robertmhaas@gmail.com> writes:
>> deik3qfhu265n6=> with hello as (select 'hello' as name)
>> deik3qfhu265n6-> , bye as (select 'bye' as name)
>> deik3qfhu265n6-> select * from hello UNION ALL select * from bye;
>> ERROR:  failed to find conversion function from unknown to text

> I think it should return a column of type text, just as if you'd done this:
> select v from (select 'hello' union all select 'bye') x(v);

I don't think it's a great idea to make CTEs handle this differently
from other places where the same issue arises (from memory, views and
INSERT/SELECT have problems with unknown literals, and there are
probably other places I'm forgetting).

Should we institute a uniform policy of forcing unknown sub-select
outputs to text type?  This would almost certainly break a few peoples'
queries, but the reduction of surprise might be worth it for most.

            regards, tom lane