Update FAQ.

2 files changed, 83 insertions, 145 deletions

diff --git a/doc/FAQ b/doc/FAQ
index 202a758be57..bb95f2ebef5 100644
--- a/doc/FAQ
+++ b/doc/FAQ
@@ -39,24 +39,22 @@
    
                           Administrative Questions
                                       
-   3.1) Why does initdb fail?
-   3.2) How do I install PostgreSQL somewhere other than
+   3.1) How do I install PostgreSQL somewhere other than
    /usr/local/pgsql?
-   3.3) When I start the postmaster, I get a Bad System Call or core
+   3.2) When I start the postmaster, I get a Bad System Call or core
    dumped message. Why?
-   3.4) When I try to start the postmaster, I get IpcMemoryCreate errors.
+   3.3) When I try to start the postmaster, I get IpcMemoryCreate errors.
    Why?
-   3.5) When I try to start the postmaster, I get IpcSemaphoreCreate
+   3.4) When I try to start the postmaster, I get IpcSemaphoreCreate
    errors. Why?
-   3.6) How do I prevent other hosts from accessing my PostgreSQL
+   3.5) How do I prevent other hosts from accessing my PostgreSQL
    database?
-   3.7) Why can't I connect to my database from another machine?
-   3.8) Why can't I access the database as the root user?
-   3.9) All my servers crash under concurrent table access. Why?
-   3.10) How do I tune the database engine for better performance?
-   3.11) What debugging features are available?
-   3.12) I get "Sorry, too many clients" when trying to connect. Why?
-   3.13) What are the pg_sorttempNNN.NN files in my database directory?
+   3.6) Why can't I connect to my database from another machine?
+   3.7) All my servers crash under concurrent table access. Why?
+   3.8) How do I tune the database engine for better performance?
+   3.9) What debugging features are available?
+   3.10) I get "Sorry, too many clients" when trying to connect. Why?
+   3.11) What are the pg_sorttempNNN.NN files in my database directory?
    
                            Operational Questions
                                       
@@ -177,15 +175,16 @@
    It is possible to compile the libpq C library, psql, and other
    interfaces and binaries to run on MS Windows platforms. In this case,
    the client is running on MS Windows, and communicates via TCP/IP to a
-   server running on one of our supported Unix platforms.
+   server running on one of our supported Unix platforms. A file
+   win31.mak is included in the distribution for making a Win32 libpq
+   library and psql.
    
-   A file win31.mak is included in the distribution for making a Win32
-   libpq library and psql.
-   
-   The database server is now working on Windows NT using Cygwin, the
-   Cygnus Unix/NT porting library. See pgsql/doc/FAQ_NT in the
-   distribution. It does not work on MS Windows 9X because Cygwin does
-   not support the features we need on those platforms.
+   The database server can run on Windows NT and later using Cygwin, the
+   Cygnus Unix/NT porting library. See pgsql/doc/FAQ_MSWIN in the
+   distribution. The database server does not run on MS Windows 9X
+   because Cygwin does not support the required features on those
+   platforms. We have no plans to do a native port to any Microsoft
+   platform.
    
     1.5) Where can I get PostgreSQL?
     
@@ -238,7 +237,7 @@
    
     1.7) What is the latest release?
     
-   The latest release of PostgreSQL is version 7.0.2.
+   The latest release of PostgreSQL is version 7.0.3.
    
    We plan to have major releases every four months.
    
@@ -425,32 +424,18 @@
    
                           Administrative Questions
                                       
-    3.1) Why does initdb fail?
-    
-   Try these:
-     * check that you don't have any of the previous version's binaries
-       in your path
-     * check to see that you have the proper paths set
-     * check that the postgres user owns the proper files
-       
-   If you see an error message about oidvector, you definately have a
-   version mismatch.
-   
-    3.2) How do I install PostgreSQL somewhere other than /usr/local/pgsql?
+    3.1) How do I install PostgreSQL somewhere other than /usr/local/pgsql?
     
-   The simplest way is to specify the --prefix option when running
-   configure. If you forgot to do that, you can edit Makefile.global and
-   change POSTGRESDIR accordingly, or create a Makefile.custom and define
-   POSTGRESDIR there.
+   Specify the --prefix option when running configure.
    
-    3.3) When I start the postmaster, I get a Bad System Call or core dumped
+    3.2) When I start the postmaster, I get a Bad System Call or core dumped
     message. Why?
     
    It could be a variety of problems, but first check to see that you
    have System V extensions installed in your kernel. PostgreSQL requires
    kernel support for shared memory and semaphores.
    
-    3.4) When I try to start the postmaster, I get IpcMemoryCreate errors. Why?
+    3.3) When I try to start the postmaster, I get IpcMemoryCreate errors. Why?
     
    You either do not have shared memory configured properly in your
    kernel or you need to enlarge the shared memory available in the
@@ -459,7 +444,7 @@
    For most systems, with default numbers of buffers and processes, you
    need a minimum of ~1MB.
    
-    3.5) When I try to start the postmaster, I get IpcSemaphoreCreate errors.
+    3.4) When I try to start the postmaster, I get IpcSemaphoreCreate errors.
     Why?
     
    If the error message is IpcSemaphoreCreate: semget failed (No space
@@ -473,7 +458,7 @@
    If the error message is something else, you might not have semaphore
    support configured in your kernel at all.
    
-    3.6) How do I prevent other hosts from accessing my PostgreSQL database?
+    3.5) How do I prevent other hosts from accessing my PostgreSQL database?
     
    By default, PostgreSQL only allows connections from the local machine
    using Unix domain sockets. Other machines will not be able to connect
@@ -481,26 +466,19 @@
    authentication by modifying the file $PGDATA/pg_hba.conf accordingly.
    This will allow TCP/IP connections.
    
-    3.7) Why can't I connect to my database from another machine?
+    3.6) Why can't I connect to my database from another machine?
     
    The default configuration allows only unix domain socket connections
    from the local machine. To enable TCP/IP connections, make sure the
    postmaster has been started with the -i option, and add an appropriate
    host entry to the file pgsql/data/pg_hba.conf.
    
-    3.8) Why can't I access the database as the root user?
-    
-   You should not create database users with user id 0 (root). They will
-   be unable to access the database. This is a security precaution
-   because of the ability of users to dynamically link object modules
-   into the database engine.
-   
-    3.9) All my servers crash under concurrent table access. Why?
+    3.7) All my servers crash under concurrent table access. Why?
     
    This problem can be caused by a kernel that is not configured to
    support semaphores.
    
-    3.10) How do I tune the database engine for better performance?
+    3.8) How do I tune the database engine for better performance?
     
    Certainly, indices can speed up queries. The EXPLAIN command allows
    you to see how PostgreSQL is interpreting your query, and which
@@ -531,7 +509,7 @@
    You can also use the CLUSTER command to group data in tables to match
    an index. See the CLUSTER manual page for more details.
    
-    3.11) What debugging features are available?
+    3.9) What debugging features are available?
     
    PostgreSQL has several features that report status information that
    can be valuable for debugging purposes.
@@ -578,7 +556,7 @@
    pgsql/data/base/dbname directory. The client profile file will be put
    in the client's current directory.
    
-    3.12) I get 'Sorry, too many clients' when trying to connect. Why?
+    3.10) I get 'Sorry, too many clients' when trying to connect. Why?
     
    You need to increase the postmaster's limit on how many concurrent
    backend processes it can start.
@@ -606,7 +584,7 @@
    was 64, and changing it required a rebuild after altering the
    MaxBackendId constant in include/storage/sinvaladt.h.
    
-    3.13) What are the pg_sorttempNNN.NN files in my database directory?
+    3.11) What are the pg_sorttempNNN.NN files in my database directory?
     
    They are temporary files generated by the query executor. For example,
    if a sort needs to be done to satisfy an ORDER BY, and the sort
@@ -645,9 +623,9 @@
     4.4) How do I get a list of tables or other things I can see in psql?
     
    You can read the source code for psql in file
-   pgsql/src/bin/psql/psql.c. It contains SQL commands that generate the
-   output for psql's backslash commands. You can also start psql with the
-   -E option so it will print out the queries it uses to execute the
+   pgsql/src/bin/psql/describe.c. It contains SQL commands that generate
+   the output for psql's backslash commands. You can also start psql with
+   the -E option so it will print out the queries it uses to execute the
    commands you give.
    
     4.5) How do you remove a column from a table?
@@ -664,20 +642,14 @@
    These are the limits:
 Maximum size for a database?             unlimited (60GB databases exist)
 Maximum size for a table?                unlimited on all operating systems
-Maximum size for a row?                  8k, configurable to 32k
-Maximum number of rows in a table?   unlimited
+Maximum size for a row?                  unlimited in 7.1 and later
+Maximum number of rows in a table?       unlimited
 Maximum number of columns in a table?    unlimited
 Maximum number of indexes on a table?    unlimited
 
    Of course, these are not actually unlimited, but limited to available
    disk space.
    
-   To change the maximum row size, edit include/config.h and change
-   BLCKSZ. To use attributes larger than 8K, you can also use the large
-   object interface.
-   
-   The row length limit will be removed in 7.1.
-   
     4.7) How much database disk space is required to store data from a typical
     text file?
     
@@ -969,10 +941,10 @@ SELECT *
    
     4.24) How do I do an outer join?
     
-   PostgreSQL does not support outer joins in the current release. They
-   can be simulated using UNION and NOT IN. For example, when joining
-   tab1 and tab2, the following query does an outer join of the two
-   tables:
+   PostgreSQL 7.1 and later supports outer joins. In previous releases,
+   outer joins can be simulated using UNION and NOT IN. For example, when
+   joining tab1 and tab2, the following query does an outer join of the
+   two tables:
     SELECT tab1.col1, tab2.col2
     FROM tab1, tab2
     WHERE tab1.col1 = tab2.col1
@@ -1011,4 +983,6 @@ SELECT *
     change?
     
    The Makefiles do not have the proper dependencies for include files.
-   You have to do a make clean and then another make.
+   You have to do a make clean and then another make. If you are using
+   GCC you can use the --enable-depend option of configure to have the
+   compiler compute the dependencies automatically.
diff --git a/doc/src/FAQ/FAQ.html b/doc/src/FAQ/FAQ.html
index 0fce45f71ce..57038e4db7a 100644
--- a/doc/src/FAQ/FAQ.html
+++ b/doc/src/FAQ/FAQ.html
@@ -63,30 +63,27 @@
     <CENTER>
       <H2>Administrative Questions</H2>
     </CENTER>
-    <A href="#3.1">3.1</A>) Why does <I>initdb</I> fail?<BR>
-     <A href="#3.2">3.2</A>) How do I install PostgreSQL somewhere
+     <A href="#3.1">3.1</A>) How do I install PostgreSQL somewhere
     other than <I>/usr/local/pgsql?</I><BR>
-     <A href="#3.3">3.3</A>) When I start the <I>postmaster</I>, I get
+     <A href="#3.2">3.2</A>) When I start the <I>postmaster</I>, I get
     a <I>Bad System Call</I> or core dumped message. Why?<BR>
-     <A href="#3.4">3.4</A>) When I try to start the <I>postmaster</I>,
+     <A href="#3.3">3.3</A>) When I try to start the <I>postmaster</I>,
     I get <I>IpcMemoryCreate</I> errors. Why?<BR>
-     <A href="#3.5">3.5</A>) When I try to start the <I>postmaster</I>,
+     <A href="#3.4">3.4</A>) When I try to start the <I>postmaster</I>,
     I get <I>IpcSemaphoreCreate</I> errors. Why?<BR>
-     <A href="#3.6">3.6</A>) How do I prevent other hosts from
+     <A href="#3.5">3.5</A>) How do I prevent other hosts from
     accessing my PostgreSQL database?<BR>
-     <A href="#3.7">3.7</A>) Why can't I connect to my database from
+     <A href="#3.6">3.6</A>) Why can't I connect to my database from
     another machine?<BR>
-     <A href="#3.8">3.8</A>) Why can't I access the database as the
-    <I>root</I> user?<BR>
-     <A href="#3.9">3.9</A>) All my servers crash under concurrent
+     <A href="#3.7">3.7</A>) All my servers crash under concurrent
     table access. Why?<BR>
-     <A href="#3.10">3.10</A>) How do I tune the database engine for
+     <A href="#3.8">3.8</A>) How do I tune the database engine for
     better performance?<BR>
-     <A href="#3.11">3.11</A>) What debugging features are
+     <A href="#3.9">3.9</A>) What debugging features are
     available?<BR>
-     <A href="#3.12">3.12</A>) I get <I>"Sorry, too many clients"</I>
+     <A href="#3.10">3.10</A>) I get <I>"Sorry, too many clients"</I>
     when trying to connect. Why?<BR>
-     <A href="#3.13">3.13</A>) What are the <I>pg_sorttempNNN.NN</I>
+     <A href="#3.11">3.11</A>) What are the <I>pg_sorttempNNN.NN</I>
     files in my database directory?<BR>
      
 
@@ -236,15 +233,14 @@
     other interfaces and binaries to run on MS Windows platforms. In
     this case, the client is running on MS Windows, and communicates
     via TCP/IP to a server running on one of our supported Unix
-    platforms.</P>
-
-    <P>A file <I>win31.mak</I> is included in the distribution for
+    platforms.  A file <I>win31.mak</I> is included in the distribution for
     making a Win32 <I>libpq</I> library and psql.</P>
 
-    <P>The database server is now working on Windows NT using Cygwin,
-    the Cygnus Unix/NT porting library. See <I>pgsql/doc/FAQ_NT</I> in
-    the distribution. It does not work on MS Windows 9X because Cygwin
-    does not support the features we need on those platforms.</P>
+    <P>The database server can run on Windows NT and later using
+    Cygwin, the Cygnus Unix/NT porting library. See <I>pgsql/doc/FAQ_MSWIN</I>
+    in the distribution.  The database server does not run on MS Windows 9X
+    because Cygwin does not support the required features on those platforms.
+    We have no plans to do a native port to any Microsoft platform.</P>
 
     <H4><A name="1.5">1.5</A>) Where can I get PostgreSQL?</H4>
 
@@ -317,7 +313,7 @@
 
     <H4><A name="1.7">1.7</A>) What is the latest release?</H4>
 
-    <P>The latest release of PostgreSQL is version 7.0.2.</P>
+    <P>The latest release of PostgreSQL is version 7.0.3.</P>
 
     <P>We plan to have major releases every four months.</P>
 
@@ -565,39 +561,19 @@
       <H2>Administrative Questions</H2>
     </CENTER>
 
-    <H4><A name="3.1">3.1</A>) Why does <I>initdb</I> fail?</H4>
-
-    <P>Try these:</P>
-
-    <UL>
-      <LI>check that you don't have any of the previous version's
-      binaries in your path</LI>
-
-      <LI>check to see that you have the proper paths set</LI>
-
-      <LI>check that the <I>postgres</I> user owns the proper
-      files</LI>
-    </UL>
-
-    <P>If you see an error message about <I>oidvector,</I> you
-    definately have a version mismatch.</P>
-
-    <H4><A name="3.2">3.2</A>) How do I install PostgreSQL somewhere
+    <H4><A name="3.1">3.1</A>) How do I install PostgreSQL somewhere
     other than <I>/usr/local/pgsql?</I></H4>
 
-    <P>The simplest way is to specify the --prefix option when running
-    <I>configure.</I> If you forgot to do that, you can edit
-    <I>Makefile.global</I> and change POSTGRESDIR accordingly, or
-    create a <I>Makefile.custom</I> and define POSTGRESDIR there.</P>
+    <P>Specify the <I>--prefix</I> option when running <I>configure.</I></P>
 
-    <H4><A name="3.3">3.3</A>) When I start the <I>postmaster</I>, I
+    <H4><A name="3.2">3.2</A>) When I start the <I>postmaster</I>, I
     get a <I>Bad System Call</I> or core dumped message. Why?</H4>
 
     <P>It could be a variety of problems, but first check to see that
     you have System V extensions installed in your kernel. PostgreSQL
     requires kernel support for shared memory and semaphores.</P>
 
-    <H4><A name="3.4">3.4</A>) When I try to start the
+    <H4><A name="3.3">3.3</A>) When I try to start the
     <I>postmaster,</I> I get <I>IpcMemoryCreate</I> errors. Why?</H4>
 
     <P>You either do not have shared memory configured properly in your
@@ -607,7 +583,7 @@
     <I>postmaster.</I> For most systems, with default numbers of
     buffers and processes, you need a minimum of ~1MB.</P>
 
-    <H4><A name="3.5">3.5</A>) When I try to start the
+    <H4><A name="3.4">3.4</A>) When I try to start the
     <I>postmaster,</I> I get <I>IpcSemaphoreCreate</I> errors.
     Why?</H4>
 
@@ -623,7 +599,7 @@
     <P>If the error message is something else, you might not have
     semaphore support configured in your kernel at all.</P>
 
-    <H4><A name="3.6">3.6</A>) How do I prevent other hosts from
+    <H4><A name="3.5">3.5</A>) How do I prevent other hosts from
     accessing my PostgreSQL database?</H4>
 
     <P>By default, PostgreSQL only allows connections from the local
@@ -633,7 +609,7 @@
     modifying the file <I>$PGDATA/pg_hba.conf</I> accordingly. This
     will allow TCP/IP connections.</P>
 
-    <H4><A name="3.7">3.7</A>) Why can't I connect to my database from
+    <H4><A name="3.6">3.6</A>) Why can't I connect to my database from
     another machine?</H4>
 
     <P>The default configuration allows only unix domain socket
@@ -642,21 +618,13 @@
     option, and add an appropriate host entry to the file
     <I>pgsql/data/pg_hba.conf</I>.</P>
 
-    <H4><A name="3.8">3.8</A>) Why can't I access the database as the
-    <I>root</I> user?</H4>
-
-    <P>You should not create database users with user id 0 (root). They
-    will be unable to access the database. This is a security
-    precaution because of the ability of users to dynamically link
-    object modules into the database engine.</P>
-
-    <H4><A name="3.9">3.9</A>) All my servers crash under concurrent
+    <H4><A name="3.7">3.7</A>) All my servers crash under concurrent
     table access. Why?</H4>
 
     <P>This problem can be caused by a kernel that is not configured to
     support semaphores.</P>
 
-    <H4><A name="3.10">3.10</A>) How do I tune the database engine for
+    <H4><A name="3.8">3.8</A>) How do I tune the database engine for
     better performance?</H4>
 
     <P>Certainly, indices can speed up queries. The
@@ -693,7 +661,7 @@
     data in tables to match an index. See the <SMALL>CLUSTER</SMALL>
     manual page for more details.</P>
 
-    <H4><A name="3.11">3.11</A>) What debugging features are
+    <H4><A name="3.9">3.9</A>) What debugging features are
     available?</H4>
 
     <P>PostgreSQL has several features that report status information
@@ -749,7 +717,7 @@
     in the <I>pgsql/data/base/dbname</I> directory. The client profile
     file will be put in the client's current directory.</P>
 
-    <H4><A name="3.12">3.12</A>) I get 'Sorry, too many clients' when
+    <H4><A name="3.10">3.10</A>) I get 'Sorry, too many clients' when
     trying to connect. Why?</H4>
 
     <P>You need to increase the <I>postmaster's</I> limit on how many
@@ -784,7 +752,7 @@
     the MaxBackendId constant in
     <I>include/storage/sinvaladt.h.</I></P>
 
-    <H4><A name="3.13">3.13</A>) What are the <I>pg_sorttempNNN.NN</I>
+    <H4><A name="3.11">3.11</A>) What are the <I>pg_sorttempNNN.NN</I>
     files in my database directory?</H4>
 
     <P>They are temporary files generated by the query executor. For
@@ -835,7 +803,7 @@
     </H4>
 
     <P>You can read the source code for <I>psql</I> in file
-    <I>pgsql/src/bin/psql/psql.c.</I> It contains SQL commands that
+    <I>pgsql/src/bin/psql/describe.c.</I> It contains SQL commands that
     generate the output for psql's backslash commands. You can also
     start <I>psql</I> with the <I>-E</I> option so it will print out
     the queries it uses to execute the commands you give.</P>
@@ -860,20 +828,14 @@
 <PRE>
 Maximum size for a database?             unlimited (60GB databases exist)
 Maximum size for a table?                unlimited on all operating systems
-Maximum size for a row?                  8k, configurable to 32k
-Maximum number of rows in a table?   unlimited
+Maximum size for a row?                  unlimited in 7.1 and later
+Maximum number of rows in a table?       unlimited
 Maximum number of columns in a table?    unlimited
 Maximum number of indexes on a table?    unlimited
 </PRE>
     Of course, these are not actually unlimited, but limited to
     available disk space. 
 
-    <P>To change the maximum row size, edit <I>include/config.h</I> and
-    change <SMALL>BLCKSZ.</SMALL> To use attributes larger than 8K, you
-    can also use the large object interface.</P>
-
-    <P>The row length limit will be removed in 7.1.</P>
-
     <H4><A name="4.7">4.7</A>) How much database disk space is required
     to store data from a typical text file?<BR>
     </H4>
@@ -1242,8 +1204,8 @@ BYTEA           bytea           variable-length byte array (null-safe)
     <H4><A name="4.24">4.24</A>) How do I do an <I>outer</I> join?<BR>
     </H4>
 
-    <P>PostgreSQL does not support outer joins in the current release.
-    They can be simulated using <SMALL>UNION</SMALL> and <SMALL>NOT
+    <P>PostgreSQL 7.1 and later supports outer joins.  In previous releases,
+    outer joins can be simulated using <SMALL>UNION</SMALL> and <SMALL>NOT
     IN</SMALL>. For example, when joining <I>tab1</I> and <I>tab2,</I>
     the following query does an <I>outer</I> join of the two
     tables:</P>
@@ -1295,7 +1257,9 @@ BYTEA           bytea           variable-length byte array (null-safe)
 
     <P>The <I>Makefiles</I> do not have the proper dependencies for
     include files. You have to do a <I>make clean</I> and then another
-    <I>make</I>.</P>
+    <I>make</I>.  If you are using GCC you can use the <i>--enable-depend</i>
+    option of <i>configure</i> to have the compiler compute the
+    dependencies automatically.</P>
   </BODY>
 </HTML>