From 785affc1d653bac43b7d4fad93f22e9e51aefcc1 Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001
From: Bruce Momjian <bruce@momjian.us>
Date: Mon, 31 Aug 2020 13:20:04 -0400
Subject: [PATCH] doc: clarify the useful features of procedures
This was not clearly documented when procedures were added in PG 11.
Reported-by: Robin Abbi
Discussion: https://postgr.es/m/CAGmg_NX327KKVuJmbWZD=pGutYFxzZjX1rU+3ji8UuX=8ONn9Q@mail.gmail.com
Backpatch-through: 11
---
doc/src/sgml/xfunc.sgml | 7 +++++--
1 file changed, 5 insertions(+), 2 deletions(-)
diff --git a/doc/src/sgml/xfunc.sgml b/doc/src/sgml/xfunc.sgml
index 6de464c654..732d935521 100644
--- a/doc/src/sgml/xfunc.sgml
+++ b/doc/src/sgml/xfunc.sgml
@@ -84,8 +84,11 @@
A procedure is a database object similar to a function. The difference is
that a procedure does not return a value, so there is no return type
declaration. While a function is called as part of a query or DML
- command, a procedure is called explicitly using
- the <xref linkend="sql-call"/> statement.
+ command, a procedure is called in isolation using
+ the <xref linkend="sql-call"/> command. If the CALL command is not
+ part of an explicit transaction, a procedure in many server-side
+ languages can commit, rollback, and begin new transactions during
+ its execution, which is not possible in functions.
</para>
<para>