Allow "SET list_guc TO NULL" to specify setting the GUC to empty.

We have never had a SET syntax that allows setting a GUC_LIST_INPUT
parameter to be an empty list.  A locution such as
	SET search_path = '';
doesn't mean that; it means setting the GUC to contain a single item
that is an empty string.  (For search_path the net effect is much the
same, because search_path ignores invalid schema names and '' must be
invalid.)  This is confusing, not least because configuration-file
entries and the set_config() function can easily produce empty-list
values.

We considered making the empty-string syntax do this, but that would
foreclose ever allowing empty-string items to be valid in list GUCs.
While there isn't any obvious use-case for that today, it feels like
the kind of restriction that might hurt someday.  Instead, let's
accept the forbidden-up-to-now value NULL and treat that as meaning an
empty list.  (An objection to this could be "what if we someday want
to allow NULL as a GUC value?".  That seems unlikely though, and even
if we did allow it for scalar GUCs, we could continue to treat it as
meaning an empty list for list GUCs.)

Author: Tom Lane <tgl@sss.pgh.pa.us>
Reviewed-by: Andrei Klychkov <andrew.a.klychkov@gmail.com>
Reviewed-by: Jim Jones <jim.jones@uni-muenster.de>
Discussion: https://postgr.es/m/CA+mfrmwsBmYsJayWjc8bJmicxc3phZcHHY=yW5aYe=P-1d_4bg@mail.gmail.com

4 files changed, 34 insertions, 0 deletions

diff --git a/src/test/regress/expected/guc.out b/src/test/regress/expected/guc.out
index 7f9e29c765c..d6fb879f500 100644
--- a/src/test/regress/expected/guc.out
+++ b/src/test/regress/expected/guc.out
@@ -31,6 +31,28 @@ SELECT '2006-08-13 12:34:56'::timestamptz;
  2006-08-13 12:34:56-07
 (1 row)
 
+-- Check handling of list GUCs
+SET search_path = 'pg_catalog', Foo, 'Bar', '';
+SHOW search_path;
+        search_path         
+----------------------------
+ pg_catalog, foo, "Bar", ""
+(1 row)
+
+SET search_path = null;  -- means empty list
+SHOW search_path;
+ search_path 
+-------------
+ 
+(1 row)
+
+SET search_path = null, null;  -- syntax error
+ERROR:  syntax error at or near ","
+LINE 1: SET search_path = null, null;
+                              ^
+SET enable_seqscan = null;  -- error
+ERROR:  NULL is an invalid value for enable_seqscan
+RESET search_path;
 -- SET LOCAL has no effect outside of a transaction
 SET LOCAL vacuum_cost_delay TO 50;
 WARNING:  SET LOCAL can only be used in transaction blocks
diff --git a/src/test/regress/expected/rules.out b/src/test/regress/expected/rules.out
index 77e25ca029e..2bf968ae3d3 100644
--- a/src/test/regress/expected/rules.out
+++ b/src/test/regress/expected/rules.out
@@ -3572,6 +3572,7 @@ CREATE FUNCTION func_with_set_params() RETURNS integer
     SET extra_float_digits TO 2
     SET work_mem TO '4MB'
     SET datestyle to iso, mdy
+    SET temp_tablespaces to NULL
     SET local_preload_libraries TO "Mixed/Case", 'c:/''a"/path', '', '0123456789012345678901234567890123456789012345678901234567890123456789012345678901234567890123456789'
     IMMUTABLE STRICT;
 SELECT pg_get_functiondef('func_with_set_params()'::regprocedure);
@@ -3585,6 +3586,7 @@ SELECT pg_get_functiondef('func_with_set_params()'::regprocedure);
   SET extra_float_digits TO '2'                                                                                                                                          +
   SET work_mem TO '4MB'                                                                                                                                                  +
   SET "DateStyle" TO 'iso, mdy'                                                                                                                                          +
+  SET temp_tablespaces TO NULL                                                                                                                                           +
   SET local_preload_libraries TO 'Mixed/Case', 'c:/''a"/path', '', '0123456789012345678901234567890123456789012345678901234567890123456789012345678901234567890123456789'+
  AS $function$select 1;$function$                                                                                                                                        +
  
diff --git a/src/test/regress/sql/guc.sql b/src/test/regress/sql/guc.sql
index f65f84a2632..bafaf067e82 100644
--- a/src/test/regress/sql/guc.sql
+++ b/src/test/regress/sql/guc.sql
@@ -12,6 +12,15 @@ SHOW vacuum_cost_delay;
 SHOW datestyle;
 SELECT '2006-08-13 12:34:56'::timestamptz;
 
+-- Check handling of list GUCs
+SET search_path = 'pg_catalog', Foo, 'Bar', '';
+SHOW search_path;
+SET search_path = null;  -- means empty list
+SHOW search_path;
+SET search_path = null, null;  -- syntax error
+SET enable_seqscan = null;  -- error
+RESET search_path;
+
 -- SET LOCAL has no effect outside of a transaction
 SET LOCAL vacuum_cost_delay TO 50;
 SHOW vacuum_cost_delay;
diff --git a/src/test/regress/sql/rules.sql b/src/test/regress/sql/rules.sql
index fdd3ff1d161..3f240bec7b0 100644
--- a/src/test/regress/sql/rules.sql
+++ b/src/test/regress/sql/rules.sql
@@ -1217,6 +1217,7 @@ CREATE FUNCTION func_with_set_params() RETURNS integer
     SET extra_float_digits TO 2
     SET work_mem TO '4MB'
     SET datestyle to iso, mdy
+    SET temp_tablespaces to NULL
     SET local_preload_libraries TO "Mixed/Case", 'c:/''a"/path', '', '0123456789012345678901234567890123456789012345678901234567890123456789012345678901234567890123456789'
     IMMUTABLE STRICT;
 SELECT pg_get_functiondef('func_with_set_params()'::regprocedure);