Update FAQ.

doc/FAQ

@@ -1,7 +1,7 @@
 
                 Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) for PostgreSQL
                                        
-   Last updated: Fri Jan 4 00:44:42 EST 2002
+   Last updated: Thu Jan 10 18:07:03 EST 2002
    
    Current maintainer: Bruce Momjian (pgman@candle.pha.pa.us)
    
@@ -14,10 +14,10 @@
    
                              General Questions
                                       
-   1.1) What is PostgreSQL?
+   1.1) What is PostgreSQL? How is it pronounced?
-   1.2) What's the copyright on PostgreSQL?
+   1.2) What is the copyright on PostgreSQL?
    1.3) What Unix platforms does PostgreSQL run on?
-   1.4) What non-unix ports are available?
+   1.4) What non-Unix ports are available?
    1.5) Where can I get PostgreSQL?
    1.6) Where can I get support?
    1.7) What is the latest release?
@@ -27,13 +27,13 @@
    1.11) Is PostgreSQL Y2K compliant?
    1.12) How do I join the development team?
    1.13) How do I submit a bug report?
-   1.14) How does PostgreSQL compare to other DBMS's?
+   1.14) How does PostgreSQL compare to other DBMSs?
    1.15) How can I financially assist PostgreSQL?
    
                            User Client Questions
                                       
    2.1) Are there ODBC drivers for PostgreSQL?
-   2.2) What tools are available for use PostgreSQL with Web pages?
+   2.2) What tools are available for using PostgreSQL with Web pages?
    2.3) Does PostgreSQL have a graphical user interface? A report
    generator? An embedded query language interface?
    2.4) What languages are available to communicate with PostgreSQL?
@@ -42,18 +42,18 @@
                                       
    3.1) How do I install PostgreSQL somewhere other than
    /usr/local/pgsql?
-   3.2) When I start the postmaster, I get a Bad System Call or core
+   3.2) When I start postmaster, I get a Bad System Call or core dumped
-   dumped message. Why?
+   message. Why?
-   3.3) When I try to start the postmaster, I get IpcMemoryCreate errors.
+   3.3) When I try to start postmaster, I get IpcMemoryCreate errors.
+   Why?
+   3.4) When I try to start postmaster, I get IpcSemaphoreCreate errors.
    Why?
-   3.4) When I try to start the postmaster, I get IpcSemaphoreCreate
-   errors. Why?
    3.5) How do I prevent other hosts from accessing my PostgreSQL
    database?
    3.6) Why can't I connect to my database from another machine?
    3.7) How do I tune the database engine for better performance?
    3.8) What debugging features are available?
-   3.9) I get "Sorry, too many clients" when trying to connect. Why?
+   3.9) Why do I get "Sorry, too many clients" when trying to connect?
    3.10) What are the pg_sorttempNNN.NN files in my database directory?
    
                            Operational Questions
@@ -62,7 +62,7 @@
    4.2) How do I SELECT only the first few rows of a query?
    4.3) How do I get a list of tables or other things I can see in psql?
    4.4) How do you remove a column from a table?
-   4.5) What is the maximum size for a row, table, database?
+   4.5) What is the maximum size for a row, a table, and a database?
    4.6) How much database disk space is required to store data from a
    typical text file?
    4.7) How do I find out what tables or indexes are defined in the
@@ -83,10 +83,10 @@
    4.16) What is an OID? What is a TID?
    4.17) What is the meaning of some of the terms used in PostgreSQL?
    4.18) Why do I get the error "ERROR: Memory exhausted in
-   AllocSetAlloc()?"
+   AllocSetAlloc()"?
    4.19) How do I tell what PostgreSQL version I am running?
-   4.20) My large-object operations get invalid large obj descriptor.
+   4.20) Why does my large-object operations get "invalid large obj
-   Why?
+   descriptor"?
    4.21) How do I create a column that will default to the current time?
    4.22) Why are my subqueries using IN so slow?
    4.23) How do I perform an outer join?
@@ -99,7 +99,7 @@
    5.2) How can I contribute some nifty new types and functions to
    PostgreSQL?
    5.3) How do I write a C function to return a tuple?
-   5.3) I have changed a source file. Why does the recompile not see the
+   5.4) I have changed a source file. Why does the recompile not see the
    change?
      _________________________________________________________________
    
@@ -107,6 +107,8 @@
                                       
     1.1) What is PostgreSQL?
     
+   PostgreSQL is pronounced Post-Gres-Q-L.
+   
    PostgreSQL is an enhancement of the POSTGRES database management
    system, a next-generation DBMS research prototype. While PostgreSQL
    retains the powerful data model and rich data types of POSTGRES, it
@@ -131,15 +133,13 @@
    functionality was added in 1995, its name was changed to Postgres95.
    The name was changed at the end of 1996 to PostgreSQL.
    
-   It is pronounced Post-Gres-Q-L.
+    1.2) What is the copyright on PostgreSQL?
-   
-    1.2) What's the copyright on PostgreSQL?
     
    PostgreSQL is subject to the following COPYRIGHT:
    
    PostgreSQL Data Base Management System
    
-   Portions copyright (c) 1996-2001, PostgreSQL Global Development Group
+   Portions copyright (c) 1996-2002, PostgreSQL Global Development Group
    Portions Copyright (c) 1994-6 Regents of the University of California
    
    Permission to use, copy, modify, and distribute this software and its
@@ -167,7 +167,7 @@
    PostgreSQL. The platforms that had received explicit testing at the
    time of release are listed in the installation instructions.
    
-    1.4) What non-unix ports are available?
+    1.4) What non-Unix ports are available?
     
    Client
    
@@ -188,14 +188,14 @@
     1.5) Where can I get PostgreSQL?
     
    The primary anonymous ftp site for PostgreSQL is
-   ftp://ftp.PostgreSQL.org/pub. For mirror sites, see our main Web site.
+   ftp://ftp.PostgreSQL.org/pub. For mirror sites, see our main web site.
    
     1.6) Where can I get support?
     
    The main mailing list is: pgsql-general@PostgreSQL.org. It is
    available for discussion of matters pertaining to PostgreSQL. To
    subscribe, send mail with the following lines in the body (not the
-   subject line)
+   subject line):
     subscribe
     end
 
@@ -226,7 +226,7 @@
      http://www.PostgreSQL.org
      
    There is also an IRC channel on EFNet, channel #PostgreSQL. I use the
-   unix command irc -c '#PostgreSQL' "$USER" irc.phoenix.net.
+   Unix command irc -c '#PostgreSQL' "$USER" irc.phoenix.net.
    
    A list of commercial support companies is available at
    http://www.postgresql.org/users-lounge/commercial-support.html.
@@ -250,7 +250,7 @@
    psql has some nice \d commands to show information about types,
    operators, functions, aggregates, etc.
    
-   Our Web site contains even more documentation.
+   Our web site contains even more documentation.
    
     1.9) How do I find out about known bugs or missing features?
     
@@ -261,7 +261,7 @@
     
    The PostgreSQL book at http://www.PostgreSQL.org/docs/awbook.html
    teaches SQL. There is a nice tutorial at
-   http://w3.one.net/~jhoffman/sqltut.htm and at
+   http://www.intermedia.net/support/sql/sqltut.shtm and at
    http://ourworld.compuserve.com/homepages/graeme_birchall/HTM_COOK.HTM.
    
    Another one is "Teach Yourself SQL in 21 Days, Second Edition" at
@@ -273,14 +273,14 @@
    
     1.11) Is PostgreSQL Y2K compliant?
     
-   Yes, we easily handle dates past the year 2000AD, and before 2000BC.
+   Yes, we easily handle dates past the year 2000 AD, and before 2000 BC.
    
     1.12) How do I join the development team?
     
    First, download the latest source and read the PostgreSQL Developers
-   documentation on our Web site, or in the distribution. Second,
+   documentation on our web site, or in the distribution. Second,
    subscribe to the pgsql-hackers and pgsql-patches mailing lists. Third,
-   submit high-quality patches to pgsql-patches.
+   submit high quality patches to pgsql-patches.
    
    There are about a dozen people who have commit privileges to the
    PostgreSQL CVS archive. They each have submitted so many high-quality
@@ -290,22 +290,22 @@
    
     1.13) How do I submit a bug report?
     
-   Fill out the "bug-template" file and send it to:
+   Please visit the PostgreSQL BugTool page, which gives guidelines and
-   pgsql-bugs@PostgreSQL.org
+   directions on how to submit a bug.
    
    Also check out our ftp site ftp://ftp.PostgreSQL.org/pub to see if
    there is a more recent PostgreSQL version or patches.
    
-    1.14) How does PostgreSQL compare to other DBMS's?
+    1.14) How does PostgreSQL compare to other DBMSs?
     
    There are several ways of measuring software: features, performance,
    reliability, support, and price.
    
    Features
-          PostgreSQL has most features present in large commercial
+          PostgreSQL has most features present in large commercial DBMSs,
-          DBMS's, like transactions, subselects, triggers, views, foreign
+          like transactions, subselects, triggers, views, foreign key
-          key referential integrity, and sophisticated locking. We have
+          referential integrity, and sophisticated locking. We have some
-          some features they don't have, like user-defined types,
+          features they do not have, like user-defined types,
           inheritance, rules, and multi-version concurrency control to
           reduce lock contention.
           
@@ -323,7 +323,7 @@
           data integrity within 30 seconds of an OS crash.
           In comparison to MySQL or leaner database systems, we are
           slower on inserts/updates because we have transaction overhead.
-          Of course, MySQL doesn't have any of the features mentioned in
+          Of course, MySQL does not have any of the features mentioned in
           the Features section above. We are built for flexibility and
           features, though we continue to improve performance through
           profiling and source code analysis. There is an interesting Web
@@ -331,8 +331,8 @@
           http://openacs.org/why-not-mysql.html
           We handle each user connection by creating a Unix process.
           Backend processes share data buffers and locking information.
-          With multiple CPU's, multiple backends can easily run on
+          With multiple CPUs, multiple backends can easily run on
-          different CPU's.
+          different CPUs.
           
    Reliability
           We realize that a DBMS must be reliable, or it is worthless. We
@@ -345,10 +345,10 @@
    Support
           Our mailing list provides a large group of developers and users
           to help resolve any problems encountered. While we can not
-          guarantee a fix, commercial DBMS's don't always supply a fix
+          guarantee a fix, commercial DBMSs do not always supply a fix
           either. Direct access to developers, the user community,
           manuals, and the source code often make PostgreSQL support
-          superior to other DBMS's. There is commercial per-incident
+          superior to other DBMSs. There is commercial per-incident
           support available for those who need it. (See support FAQ
           item.)
           
@@ -359,7 +359,7 @@
           
     1.15) How can I financially assist PostgreSQL?
     
-   PostgreSQL has had a first-class infrastructure since we started five
+   PostgreSQL has had a first-class infrastructure since we started six
    years ago. This is all thanks to Marc Fournier, who has created and
    managed this infrastructure over the years.
    
@@ -394,19 +394,19 @@
    
    They will probably be selling this product to people who need
    commercial-quality support, but a freeware version will always be
-   available. Questions to postgres95@openlink.co.uk.
+   available. Please send questions to postgres95@openlink.co.uk.
    
    See also the ODBC chapter of the Programmer's Guide.
    
     2.2) What tools are available for using PostgreSQL with Web pages?
     
    A nice introduction to Database-backed Web pages can be seen at:
-   http://www.webtools.com
+   http://www.webreview.com
    
    There is also one at http://www.phone.net/home/mwm/hotlist/.
    
    For Web integration, PHP is an excellent interface. It is at
-   http://www.php.net
+   http://www.php.net.
    
    For complex cases, many use the Perl interface and CGI.pm.
    
@@ -414,7 +414,7 @@
     An embedded query language interface?
     
    We have a nice graphical user interface called pgaccess, which is
-   shipped as part of the distribution. Pgaccess also has a report
+   shipped as part of the distribution. pgaccess also has a report
    generator. The Web page is http://www.flex.ro/pgaccess
    
    We also include ecpg, which is an embedded SQL query language
@@ -441,33 +441,35 @@
     
    Specify the --prefix option when running configure.
    
-    3.2) When I start the postmaster, I get a Bad System Call or core dumped
+    3.2) When I start 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.
    
-    3.3) When I try to start the postmaster, I get IpcMemoryCreate errors. Why?
+    3.3) When I try to start 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
    kernel. The exact amount you need depends on your architecture and how
-   many buffers and backend processes you configure for the postmaster.
+   many buffers and backend processes you configure for postmaster. For
-   For most systems, with default numbers of buffers and processes, you
+   most systems, with default numbers of buffers and processes, you need
-   need a minimum of ~1MB. See the PostgreSQL Administrator's Guide for
+   a minimum of ~1 MB. See the PostgreSQL Administrator's Guide for more
-   more detailed information about shared memory and semaphores.
+   detailed information about shared memory and semaphores.
    
-    3.4) When I try to start the postmaster, I get IpcSemaphoreCreate errors.
+    3.4) When I try to start postmaster, I get IpcSemaphoreCreate errors. Why?
-    Why?
     
    If the error message is IpcSemaphoreCreate: semget failed (No space
    left on device) then your kernel is not configured with enough
    semaphores. Postgres needs one semaphore per potential backend
-   process. A temporary solution is to start the postmaster with a
+   process. A temporary solution is to start postmaster with a smaller
-   smaller limit on the number of backend processes. Use -N with a
+   limit on the number of backend processes. Use -N with a parameter less
-   parameter less than the default of 32. A more permanent solution is to
+   than the default of 32. A more permanent solution is to increase your
-   increase your kernel's SEMMNS and SEMMNI parameters.
+   kernel's SEMMNS and SEMMNI parameters.
+   
+   Inoperative semaphores can also cause crashes during heavy database
+   access.
    
    If the error message is something else, you might not have semaphore
    support configured in your kernel at all. See the PostgreSQL
@@ -478,47 +480,44 @@
     
    By default, PostgreSQL only allows connections from the local machine
    using Unix domain sockets. Other machines will not be able to connect
-   unless you add the -i flag to the postmaster, and enable host-based
+   unless you add the -i flag to postmaster, and enable host-based
    authentication by modifying the file $PGDATA/pg_hba.conf accordingly.
    This will allow TCP/IP connections.
    
-   Inoperative semaphores can also cause crashes during heavy database
-   access.
-   
     3.6) Why can't I connect to my database from another machine?
     
-   The default configuration allows only unix domain socket connections
+   The default configuration allows only Unix domain socket connections
-   from the local machine. To enable TCP/IP connections, make sure the
+   from the local machine. To enable TCP/IP connections, make sure
    postmaster has been started with the -i option, and add an appropriate
    host entry to the file pgsql/data/pg_hba.conf.
    
     3.7) How do I tune the database engine for better performance?
     
-   Certainly, indices can speed up queries. The EXPLAIN command allows
+   Certainly, indexes can speed up queries. The EXPLAIN command allows
    you to see how PostgreSQL is interpreting your query, and which
-   indices are being used.
+   indexes are being used.
    
-   If you are doing a lot of INSERTs, consider doing them in a large
+   If you are doing many INSERTs, consider doing them in a large batch
-   batch using the COPY command. This is much faster than individual
+   using the COPY command. This is much faster than individual INSERTS.
-   INSERTS. Second, statements not in a BEGIN WORK/COMMIT transaction
+   Second, statements not in a BEGIN WORK/COMMIT transaction block are
-   block are considered to be in their own transaction. Consider
+   considered to be in their own transaction. Consider performing several
-   performing several statements in a single transaction block. This
+   statements in a single transaction block. This reduces the transaction
-   reduces the transaction overhead. Also consider dropping and
+   overhead. Also, consider dropping and recreating indexes when making
-   recreating indices when making large data changes.
+   large data changes.
    
    There are several tuning options. You can disable fsync() by starting
-   the postmaster with a -o -F option. This will prevent fsync()'s from
+   postmaster with a -o -F option. This will prevent fsync()s from
    flushing to disk after every transaction.
    
    You can also use the postmaster -B option to increase the number of
    shared memory buffers used by the backend processes. If you make this
-   parameter too high, the postmaster may not start because you've
+   parameter too high, the postmaster may not start because you have
    exceeded your kernel's limit on shared memory space. Each buffer is 8K
    and the default is 64 buffers.
    
    You can also use the backend -S option to increase the maximum amount
    of memory used by the backend process for temporary sorts. The -S
-   value is measured in kilobytes, and the default is 512 (ie, 512K).
+   value is measured in kilobytes, and the default is 512 (i.e. 512K).
    
    You can also use the CLUSTER command to group data in tables to match
    an index. See the CLUSTER manual page for more details.
@@ -529,12 +528,12 @@
    can be valuable for debugging purposes.
    
    First, by running configure with the --enable-cassert option, many
-   assert()'s monitor the progress of the backend and halt the program
+   assert()s monitor the progress of the backend and halt the program
    when something unexpected occurs.
    
    Both postmaster and postgres have several debug options available.
-   First, whenever you start the postmaster, make sure you send the
+   First, whenever you start postmaster, make sure you send the standard
-   standard output and error to a log file, like:
+   output and error to a log file, like:
     cd /usr/local/pgsql
     ./bin/postmaster >server.log 2>&1 &
 
@@ -545,18 +544,18 @@
    that specifies the debug level. Be warned that high debug level values
    generate large log files.
    
-   If the postmaster is not running, you can actually run the postgres
+   If postmaster is not running, you can actually run the postgres
    backend from the command line, and type your SQL statement directly.
    This is recommended only for debugging purposes. Note that a newline
    terminates the query, not a semicolon. If you have compiled with
    debugging symbols, you can use a debugger to see what is happening.
-   Because the backend was not started from the postmaster, it is not
+   Because the backend was not started from postmaster, it is not running
-   running in an identical environment and locking/backend interaction
+   in an identical environment and locking/backend interaction problems
-   problems may not be duplicated.
+   may not be duplicated.
    
-   If the postmaster is running, start psql in one window, then find the
+   If postmaster is running, start psql in one window, then find the PID
-   PID of the postgres process used by psql. Use a debugger to attach to
+   of the postgres process used by psql. Use a debugger to attach to the
-   the postgres PID. You can set breakpoints in the debugger and issue
+   postgres PID. You can set breakpoints in the debugger and issue
    queries from psql. If you are debugging postgres startup, you can set
    PGOPTIONS="-W n", then start psql. This will cause startup to delay
    for n seconds so you can attach to the process with the debugger, set
@@ -570,13 +569,13 @@
    pgsql/data/base/dbname directory. The client profile file will be put
    in the client's current directory.
    
-    3.9) I get 'Sorry, too many clients' when trying to connect. Why?
+    3.9) Why do I get "Sorry, too many clients" when trying to connect?
     
-   You need to increase the postmaster's limit on how many concurrent
+   You need to increase postmaster's limit on how many concurrent backend
-   backend processes it can start.
+   processes it can start.
    
    The default limit is 32 processes. You can increase it by restarting
-   the postmaster with a suitable -N value or modifying postgresql.conf.
+   postmaster with a suitable -N value or modifying postgresql.conf.
    
    Note that if you make -N larger than 32, you must also increase -B
    beyond its default of 64; -B must be at least twice -N, and probably
@@ -639,13 +638,13 @@
     DROP TABLE old_table;
     ALTER TABLE new_table RENAME TO old_table;
 
-    4.5) What is the maximum size for a row, table, database?
+    4.5) What is the maximum size for a row, a table, and a database?
     
    These are the limits:
-    Maximum size for a database?             unlimited (60GB databases exist)
+    Maximum size for a database?             unlimited (60 GB databases exist)
     Maximum size for a table?                16 TB
     Maximum size for a row?                  unlimited in 7.1 and later
-    Maximum size for a field?                1GB in 7.1 and later
+    Maximum size for a field?                1 GB in 7.1 and later
     Maximum number of rows in a table?       unlimited
     Maximum number of columns in a table?    250-1600 depending on column types
     Maximum number of indexes on a table?    unlimited
@@ -654,8 +653,8 @@
    disk space and memory/swap space. Performance may suffer when these
    values get unusually large.
    
-   The maximum table size of 16TB does not require large file support
+   The maximum table size of 16 TB does not require large file support
-   from the operating system. Large tables are stored as multiple 1GB
+   from the operating system. Large tables are stored as multiple 1 GB
    files so file system size limits are not important.
    
    The maximum table size and maximum number of columns can be increased
@@ -668,8 +667,8 @@
    required to store the data in a flat file.
    
    Consider a file of 300,000 lines with two integers on each line. The
-   flat file is 2.4MB. The size of the PostgreSQL database file
+   flat file is 2.4 MB. The size of the PostgreSQL database file
-   containing this data can be estimated at 14MB:
+   containing this data can be estimated at 14 MB:
     36 bytes: each row header (approximate)
    + 8 bytes: two int fields @ 4 bytes each
    + 4 bytes: pointer on page to tuple
@@ -686,7 +685,7 @@
    --------------------  =  1755 database pages
       171 rows per page
 
-1755 database pages * 8192 bytes per page  =  14,376,960 bytes (14MB)
+1755 database pages * 8192 bytes per page  =  14,376,960 bytes (14 MB)
 
    Indexes do not require as much overhead, but do contain the data that
    is being indexed, so they can be large also.
@@ -705,7 +704,7 @@
    PostgreSQL does not automatically maintain statistics. VACUUM must be
    run to update the statistics. After statistics are updated, the
    optimizer knows how many rows in the table, and can better decide if
-   it should use indices. Note that the optimizer does not use indices in
+   it should use indexes. Note that the optimizer does not use indexes in
    cases when the table is small because a sequential scan would be
    faster.
    
@@ -720,9 +719,9 @@
    followed by an explicit sort is faster than an indexscan of all tuples
    of a large table. This is because random disk access is very slow.
    
-   When using wild-card operators such as LIKE or ~, indices can only be
+   When using wild-card operators such as LIKE or ~, indexes can only be
    used if the beginning of the search is anchored to the start of the
-   string. So, to use indices, LIKE searches should not begin with %, and
+   string. So, to use indexes, LIKE searches should not begin with %, and
    ~(regular expression searches) should start with ^.
    
     4.9) How do I see how the query optimizer is evaluating my query?
@@ -733,7 +732,7 @@
     
    An R-tree index is used for indexing spatial data. A hash index can't
    handle range searches. A B-tree index only handles range searches in a
-   single dimension. R-tree's can handle multi-dimensional data. For
+   single dimension. R-trees can handle multi-dimensional data. For
    example, if an R-tree index can be built on an attribute of type
    point, the system can more efficiently answer queries such as "select
    all points within a bounding rectangle."
@@ -741,8 +740,8 @@
    The canonical paper that describes the original R-tree design is:
    
    Guttman, A. "R-trees: A Dynamic Index Structure for Spatial
-   Searching." Proc of the 1984 ACM SIGMOD Int'l Conf on Mgmt of Data,
+   Searching." Proceedings of the 1984 ACM SIGMOD Int'l Conf on Mgmt of
-   45-57.
+   Data, 45-57.
    
    You can also find this paper in Stonebraker's "Readings in Database
    Systems".
@@ -771,15 +770,13 @@
     FROM tab
     WHERE lower(col) = 'abc'
 
-
    This will not use an standard index. However, if you create a
    functional index, it will be used:
     CREATE INDEX tabindex on tab (lower(col));
 
-
     4.13) In a query, how do I detect if a field is NULL?
     
-   You test the column with IS NULLIS NOT NULL.
+   You test the column with IS NULL and IS NOT NULL.
    
     4.14) What is the difference between the various character types?
     
@@ -828,22 +825,20 @@ BYTEA           bytea           variable-length byte array (null-safe)
    However, if you need to dump and reload the database, you need to use
    pg_dump's -o option or COPY WITH OIDS option to preserve the OIDs.
    
-   Numbering Rows.
-   
     4.15.2) How do I get the value of a SERIAL insert?
     
-   One approach is to to retrieve the next SERIAL value from the sequence
+   One approach is to retrieve the next SERIAL value from the sequence
    object with the nextval() function before inserting and then insert it
    explicitly. Using the example table in 4.15.1, that might look like
    this in Perl:
     new_id = output of "SELECT nextval('person_id_seq')"
     INSERT INTO person (id, name) VALUES (new_id, 'Blaise Pascal');
 
-   You would then also have the new value stored in $newSerialID for use
+   You would then also have the new value stored in new_id for use in
-   in other queries (e.g., as a foreign key to the person table). Note
+   other queries (e.g., as a foreign key to the person table). Note that
-   that the name of the automatically created SEQUENCE object will be
+   the name of the automatically created SEQUENCE object will be named
-   named <table>_<serialcolumn>_seq, where table and serialcolumn are the
+   <table>_<serialcolumn>_seq, where table and serialcolumn are the names
-   names of your table and your SERIAL column, respectively.
+   of your table and your SERIAL column, respectively.
    
    Alternatively, you could retrieve the assigned SERIAL value with the
    currval() function after it was inserted by default, e.g.,
@@ -877,10 +872,10 @@ BYTEA           bytea           variable-length byte array (null-safe)
    OID values. You can create an index on the OID field for faster
    access.
    
-   Oids are assigned to all new rows from a central area that is used by
+   OIDs are assigned to all new rows from a central area that is used by
    all databases. If you want to change the OID to something else, or if
-   you want to make a copy of the table, with the original OID's, there
+   you want to make a copy of the table, with the original OIDs, there is
-   is no reason you can't do it:
+   no reason you can't do it:
         CREATE TABLE new_table(old_oid oid, mycol int);
         SELECT old_oid, mycol INTO new FROM old;
         COPY new TO '/tmp/pgtable';
@@ -892,7 +887,7 @@ BYTEA           bytea           variable-length byte array (null-safe)
    removed before anyone does.
    
    TIDs are used to identify specific physical rows with block and offset
-   values. Tids change after rows are modified or reloaded. They are used
+   values. TIDs change after rows are modified or reloaded. They are used
    by index entries to point to physical rows.
    
     4.17) What is the meaning of some of the terms used in PostgreSQL?
@@ -912,12 +907,12 @@ BYTEA           bytea           variable-length byte array (null-safe)
    A list of general database terms can be found at:
    http://www.comptechnews.com/~reaster/dbdesign.html
    
-    4.18) Why do I get the error "ERROR: Memory exhausted in AllocSetAlloc()?"
+    4.18) Why do I get the error "ERROR: Memory exhausted in AllocSetAlloc()"?
     
    If you are running a version older than 7.1, an upgrade may fix the
    problem. Also it is possible you have run out of virtual memory on
    your system, or your kernel has a low limit for certain resources. Try
-   this before starting the postmaster:
+   this before starting postmaster:
     ulimit -d 262144
     limit datasize 256m
 
@@ -932,7 +927,8 @@ BYTEA           bytea           variable-length byte array (null-safe)
     
    From psql, type select version();
    
-    4.20) My large-object operations get invalid large obj descriptor. Why?
+    4.20) Why does my large-object operations get "invalid large obj
+    descriptor"?
     
    You need to put BEGIN WORK and COMMIT around any use of a large object
    handle, that is, surrounding lo_open ... lo_close.