Database Reference
In-Depth Information
Reading the Fine Manual (RTFM)
RTFM is often used rudely, meaning "don't bother me, I'm busy", or is used as a stronger form
of abuse. The strange thing is that asking you to read the manual is most often very good
advice. Don't flame them back, take the advice. The most important point to remember is
that you should refer to a manual whose release version matches the server on which you
are operating
The PostgreSQL manual is very well written, and is comprehensive in its coverage of specific
topics. One of its main failings is that the "documents" aren't organized in a way that helps
somebody who is trying to learn PostgreSQL. They are organized from the perspective of
people checking specific technical points, so that they can decide whether their difficulty
is user error or not. It sometimes answers "What?", but seldom "Why?', or 'How?"
I've helped write sections of the PostgreSQL documents as well, so I'm not embarrassed to
steer you towards reading them. There are still many things to read here that are useful.
How to do it...
The main documents for each release are available at the following website:
http://www.postgresql.org/docs/manuals/
The most frequently accessed parts of the documents are as follows:
F
SQL Command Reference, Client, and Server tools reference (
http://www.
postgresql.org/docs/9.0/interactive/reference.html
)
F
Configuration (
http://www.postgresql.org/docs/9.0/interactive/
runtime-config.html
)
F
Functions (
http://www.postgresql.org/docs/9.0/interactive/
functions.html
)
You can also grab yourself a PDF version of the manual, which can allow easier searching in
some cases. Don't print it! The documents are more than 2000 pages of A4-size sheets.
How it works...
The PostgreSQL documents are written in SGML, which is similar to, but not quite XML. These
files are then processed to generate HTML or PDFs, and so on.
There's more...
There's a Wiki site on
postgresql.org
that is worth a look at as well. More information
is also available at
http://wiki.postgresql.org
