From: Mike Bayer <mike_mp@zzzcomputing.com>
Date: Tue, 19 Mar 2024 12:35:00 +0000 (-0400)
Subject: add notes clarifying the role of "$user" in pg search_path
X-Git-Tag: rel_1_4_53~25
X-Git-Url: http://git.ipfire.org/cgi-bin/gitweb.cgi?a=commitdiff_plain;h=d7ea47ddff0500f802bf6b720f756bce1cd19a30;p=thirdparty%2Fsqlalchemy%2Fsqlalchemy.git

add notes clarifying the role of "$user" in pg search_path

references: https://github.com/sqlalchemy/alembic/discussions/1447
Change-Id: I2ef55813699f84ac7fbca6de7522f0d3d78e6029
(cherry picked from commit 58a50c06836792da201bb610ee2f0463ac1bb073)
---

diff --git a/lib/sqlalchemy/dialects/postgresql/base.py b/lib/sqlalchemy/dialects/postgresql/base.py
index 6b3af4bdae..c36597bbc4 100644
--- a/lib/sqlalchemy/dialects/postgresql/base.py
+++ b/lib/sqlalchemy/dialects/postgresql/base.py
@@ -341,7 +341,9 @@ Remote-Schema Table Introspection and PostgreSQL search_path
 .. admonition:: Section Best Practices Summarized
 
     keep the ``search_path`` variable set to its default of ``public``, without
-    any other schema names. For other schema names, name these explicitly
+    any other schema names. Ensure the username used to connect **does not**
+    match remote schemas, or ensure the ``"$user"`` token is **removed** from
+    ``search_path``.  For other schema names, name these explicitly
     within :class:`_schema.Table` definitions. Alternatively, the
     ``postgresql_ignore_search_path`` option will cause all reflected
     :class:`_schema.Table` objects to have a :attr:`_schema.Table.schema`
@@ -350,12 +352,63 @@ Remote-Schema Table Introspection and PostgreSQL search_path
 The PostgreSQL dialect can reflect tables from any schema, as outlined in
 :ref:`metadata_reflection_schemas`.
 
+In all cases, the first thing SQLAlchemy does when reflecting tables is
+to **determine the default schema for the current database connection**.
+It does this using the PostgreSQL ``current_schema()``
+function, illustated below using a PostgreSQL client session (i.e. using
+the ``psql`` tool)::
+
+    test=> select current_schema();
+    current_schema
+    ----------------
+    public
+    (1 row)
+
+Above we see that on a plain install of PostgreSQL, the default schema name
+is the name ``public``.
+
+However, if your database username **matches the name of a schema**, PostgreSQL's
+default is to then **use that name as the default schema**.  Below, we log in
+using the username ``scott``.  When we create a schema named ``scott``, **it
+implicitly changes the default schema**::
+
+    test=> select current_schema();
+    current_schema
+    ----------------
+    public
+    (1 row)
+
+    test=> create schema scott;
+    CREATE SCHEMA
+    test=> select current_schema();
+    current_schema
+    ----------------
+    scott
+    (1 row)
+
+The behavior of ``current_schema()`` is derived from the
+`PostgreSQL search path
+<https://www.postgresql.org/docs/current/static/ddl-schemas.html#DDL-SCHEMAS-PATH>`_
+variable ``search_path``, which in modern PostgreSQL versions defaults to this::
+
+    test=> show search_path;
+    search_path
+    -----------------
+    "$user", public
+    (1 row)
+
+Where above, the ``"$user"`` variable will inject the current username as the
+default schema, if one exists.   Otherwise, ``public`` is used.
+
+When a :class:`_schema.Table` object is reflected, if it is present in the
+schema indicated by the ``current_schema()`` function, **the schema name assigned
+to the table is the Python value ``None``**.  Otherwise, the schema name
+will be assigned as the name of that schema.
+
 With regards to tables which these :class:`_schema.Table`
 objects refer to via foreign key constraint, a decision must be made as to how
 the ``.schema`` is represented in those remote tables, in the case where that
-remote schema name is also a member of the current
-`PostgreSQL search path
-<https://www.postgresql.org/docs/current/static/ddl-schemas.html#DDL-SCHEMAS-PATH>`_.
+remote schema name is also a member of the current ``search_path``.
 
 By default, the PostgreSQL dialect mimics the behavior encouraged by
 PostgreSQL's own ``pg_get_constraintdef()`` builtin procedure.  This function
@@ -461,13 +514,6 @@ We will now have ``test_schema.referred`` stored as schema-qualified::
     described here are only for those users who can't, or prefer not to, stay
     within these guidelines.
 
-Note that **in all cases**, the "default" schema is always reflected as
-``None``. The "default" schema on PostgreSQL is that which is returned by the
-PostgreSQL ``current_schema()`` function.  On a typical PostgreSQL
-installation, this is the name ``public``.  So a table that refers to another
-which is in the ``public`` (i.e. default) schema will always have the
-``.schema`` attribute set to ``None``.
-
 .. seealso::
 
     :ref:`reflection_schema_qualified_interaction` - discussion of the issue