94aa7cc5f7
The SQL standard has been ambiguous about whether null values in
unique constraints should be considered equal or not. Different
implementations have different behaviors. In the SQL:202x draft, this
has been formalized by making this implementation-defined and adding
an option on unique constraint definitions UNIQUE [ NULLS [NOT]
DISTINCT ] to choose a behavior explicitly.
This patch adds this option to PostgreSQL. The default behavior
remains UNIQUE NULLS DISTINCT. Making this happen in the btree code
is pretty easy; most of the patch is just to carry the flag around to
all the places that need it.
The CREATE UNIQUE INDEX syntax extension is not from the standard,
it's my own invention.
I named all the internal flags, catalog columns, etc. in the negative
("nulls not distinct") so that the default PostgreSQL behavior is the
default if the flag is false.
Reviewed-by: Maxim Orlov <orlovmg@gmail.com>
Reviewed-by: Pavel Borisov <pashkin.elfe@gmail.com>
Discussion: https://www.postgresql.org/message-id/flat/84e5ee1b-387e-9a54-c326-9082674bde78@enterprisedb.com
PostgreSQL Database Management System ===================================== This directory contains the source code distribution of the PostgreSQL database management system. PostgreSQL is an advanced object-relational database management system that supports an extended subset of the SQL standard, including transactions, foreign keys, subqueries, triggers, user-defined types and functions. This distribution also contains C language bindings. PostgreSQL has many language interfaces, many of which are listed here: https://www.postgresql.org/download/ See the file INSTALL for instructions on how to build and install PostgreSQL. That file also lists supported operating systems and hardware platforms and contains information regarding any other software packages that are required to build or run the PostgreSQL system. Copyright and license information can be found in the file COPYRIGHT. A comprehensive documentation set is included in this distribution; it can be read as described in the installation instructions. The latest version of this software may be obtained at https://www.postgresql.org/download/. For more information look at our web site located at https://www.postgresql.org/.