## 66.2. System Catalog Initial Data

Each catalog that has any manually-created initial data (some do not) has a corresponding `.dat` file that contains its initial data in an editable format.

### 66.2.1. Data File Format

Each `.dat` file contains Perl data structure literals that are simply eval'd to produce an in-memory data structure consisting of an array of hash references, one per catalog row. A slightly modified excerpt from `pg_database.dat` will demonstrate the key features:

    [

    # A comment could appear here.
    { oid => '1', oid_symbol => 'TemplateDbOid',
      descr => 'database\'s default template',
      datname => 'template1', datdba => 'PGUID', encoding => 'ENCODING',
      datcollate => 'LC_COLLATE', datctype => 'LC_CTYPE', datistemplate => 't',
      datallowconn => 't', datconnlimit => '-1', datlastsysoid => '0',
      datfrozenxid => '0', datminmxid => '1', dattablespace => '1663',
      datacl => '_null_' },

    ]

Points to note:

- The overall file layout is: open square bracket, one or more sets of curly braces each of which represents a catalog row, close square bracket. Write a comma after each closing curly brace.

- Within each catalog row, write comma-separated `key` `=>` `value` pairs. The allowed `key`s are the names of the catalog's columns, plus the metadata keys `oid`, `oid_symbol`, and `descr`. (The use of `oid` and `oid_symbol` is described in Section 66.2.2 below. `descr` supplies a description string for the object, which will be inserted into `pg_description` or `pg_shdescription` as appropriate.) While the metadata keys are optional, the catalog's defined columns must all be provided, except when the catalog's `.h` file specifies a default value for the column.

- All values must be single-quoted. Escape single quotes used within a value with a backslash. Backslashes meant as data can, but need not, be doubled; this follows Perl's rules for simple quoted literals. Note that backslashes appearing as data will be treated as escapes by the bootstrap scanner, according to the same rules as for escape string constants (see Section 4.1.2.2); for example `\t` converts to a tab character. If you actually want a backslash in the final value, you will need to write four of them: Perl strips two, leaving `\\` for the bootstrap scanner to see.

- Null values are represented by `_null_`. (Note that there is no way to create a value that is just that string.)

- Comments are preceded by `#`, and must be on their own lines.

- To aid readability, field values that are OIDs of other catalog entries can be represented by names rather than numeric OIDs. This is described in Section 66.2.3 below.

- Since hashes are unordered data structures, field order and line layout aren't semantically significant. However, to maintain a consistent appearance, we set a few rules that are applied by the formatting script `reformat_dat_file.pl`:

  - Within each pair of curly braces, the metadata fields `oid`, `oid_symbol`, and `descr` (if present) come first, in that order, then the catalog's own fields appear in their defined order.

  - Newlines are inserted between fields as needed to limit line length to 80 characters, if possible. A newline is also inserted between the metadata fields and the regular fields.

  - If the catalog's `.h` file specifies a default value for a column, and a data entry has that same value, `reformat_dat_file.pl` will omit it from the data file. This keeps the data representation compact.

  - `reformat_dat_file.pl` preserves blank lines and comment lines as-is.

  It's recommended to run `reformat_dat_file.pl` before submitting catalog data patches. For convenience, you can simply change to `src/include/catalog/` and run `make reformat-dat-files`.

- If you want to add a new method of making the data representation smaller, you must implement it in `reformat_dat_file.pl` and also teach `Catalog::ParseData()` how to expand the data back into the full representation.

### 66.2.2. OID Assignment

A catalog row appearing in the initial data can be given a manually-assigned OID by writing an `oid => `nnnn`` metadata field. Furthermore, if an OID is assigned, a C macro for that OID can be created by writing an `oid_symbol => `name`` metadata field.

Pre-loaded catalog rows must have preassigned OIDs if there are OID references to them in other pre-loaded rows. A preassigned OID is also needed if the row's OID must be referenced from C code. If neither case applies, the `oid` metadata field can be omitted, in which case the bootstrap code assigns an OID automatically, or leaves it zero in a catalog that has no OIDs. In practice we usually preassign OIDs for all or none of the pre-loaded rows in a given catalog, even if only some of them are actually cross-referenced.

Writing the actual numeric value of any OID in C code is considered very bad form; always use a macro, instead. Direct references to `pg_proc` OIDs are common enough that there's a special mechanism to create the necessary macros automatically; see `src/backend/utils/Gen_fmgrtab.pl`. Similarly — but, for historical reasons, not done the same way — there's an automatic method for creating macros for `pg_type` OIDs. `oid_symbol` entries are therefore not necessary in those two catalogs. Likewise, macros for the `pg_class` OIDs of system catalogs and indexes are set up automatically. For all other system catalogs, you have to manually specify any macros you need via `oid_symbol` entries.

To find an available OID for a new pre-loaded row, run the script `src/include/catalog/unused_oids`. It prints inclusive ranges of unused OIDs (e.g., the output line “45-900” means OIDs 45 through 900 have not been allocated yet). Currently, OIDs 1-9999 are reserved for manual assignment; the `unused_oids` script simply looks through the catalog headers and `.dat` files to see which ones do not appear. You can also use the `duplicate_oids` script to check for mistakes. (`genbki.pl` will also detect duplicate OIDs at compile time.)

The OID counter starts at 10000 at the beginning of a bootstrap run. If a catalog row is in a table that requires OIDs, but no OID was preassigned by an `oid` field, then it will receive an OID of 10000 or above.

### 66.2.3. OID Reference Lookup

Cross-references from one initial catalog row to another can be written by just writing the preassigned OID of the referenced row. But that's error-prone and hard to understand, so for frequently-referenced catalogs, `genbki.pl` provides mechanisms to write symbolic references instead. Currently this is possible for references to access methods, functions, operators, opclasses, opfamilies, and types. The rules are as follows:

- Use of symbolic references is enabled in a particular catalog column by attaching `BKI_LOOKUP(`lookuprule`)` to the column's definition, where `lookuprule` is `pg_am`, `pg_proc`, `pg_operator`, `pg_opclass`, `pg_opfamily`, or `pg_type`. `BKI_LOOKUP` can be attached to columns of type `Oid`, `regproc`, `oidvector`, or `Oid[]`; in the latter two cases it implies performing a lookup on each element of the array.

- In such a column, all entries must use the symbolic format except when writing `0` for InvalidOid. (If the column is declared `regproc`, you can optionally write `-` instead of `0`.) `genbki.pl` will warn about unrecognized names.

- Access methods are just represented by their names, as are types. Type names must match the referenced `pg_type` entry's `typname`; you do not get to use any aliases such as `integer` for `int4`.

- A function can be represented by its `proname`, if that is unique among the `pg_proc.dat` entries (this works like regproc input). Otherwise, write it as `proname(argtypename,argtypename,...)`, like regprocedure. The argument type names must be spelled exactly as they are in the `pg_proc.dat` entry's `proargtypes` field. Do not insert any spaces.

- Operators are represented by `oprname(lefttype,righttype)`, writing the type names exactly as they appear in the `pg_operator.dat` entry's `oprleft` and `oprright` fields. (Write `0` for the omitted operand of a unary operator.)

- The names of opclasses and opfamilies are only unique within an access method, so they are represented by `access_method_name``/``object_name`.

- In none of these cases is there any provision for schema-qualification; all objects created during bootstrap are expected to be in the pg_catalog schema.

`genbki.pl` resolves all symbolic references while it runs, and puts simple numeric OIDs into the emitted BKI file. There is therefore no need for the bootstrap backend to deal with symbolic references.

### 66.2.4. Recipes for Editing Data Files

Here are some suggestions about the easiest ways to perform common tasks when updating catalog data files.

Add a new column with a default to a catalog: Add the column to the header file with a `BKI_DEFAULT(`value`)` annotation. The data file need only be adjusted by adding the field in existing rows where a non-default value is needed.

Add a default value to an existing column that doesn't have one: Add a `BKI_DEFAULT` annotation to the header file, then run `make reformat-dat-files` to remove now-redundant field entries.

Remove a column, whether it has a default or not: Remove the column from the header, then run `make reformat-dat-files` to remove now-useless field entries.

Change or remove an existing default value: You cannot simply change the header file, since that will cause the current data to be interpreted incorrectly. First run `make expand-dat-files` to rewrite the data files with all default values inserted explicitly, then change or remove the `BKI_DEFAULT` annotation, then run `make reformat-dat-files` to remove superfluous fields again.

Ad-hoc bulk editing: `reformat_dat_file.pl` can be adapted to perform many kinds of bulk changes. Look for its block comments showing where one-off code can be inserted. In the following example, we are going to consolidate two boolean fields in `pg_proc` into a char field:

1. Add the new column, with a default, to `pg_proc.h`:

       +    /* see PROKIND_ categories below */
       +    char        prokind BKI_DEFAULT(f);

2. Create a new script based on `reformat_dat_file.pl` to insert appropriate values on-the-fly:

       -           # At this point we have the full row in memory as a hash
       -           # and can do any operations we want. As written, it only
       -           # removes default values, but this script can be adapted to
       -           # do one-off bulk-editing.
       +           # One-off change to migrate to prokind
       +           # Default has already been filled in by now, so change to other
       +           # values as appropriate
       +           if ($values{proisagg} eq 't')
       +           {
       +               $values{prokind} = 'a';
       +           }
       +           elsif ($values{proiswindow} eq 't')
       +           {
       +               $values{prokind} = 'w';
       +           }

3. Run the new script:

       $ cd src/include/catalog
       $ perl  rewrite_dat_with_prokind.pl  pg_proc.dat

   At this point `pg_proc.dat` has all three columns, `prokind`, `proisagg`, and `proiswindow`, though they will appear only in rows where they have non-default values.

4. Remove the old columns from `pg_proc.h`:

       -    /* is it an aggregate? */
       -    bool        proisagg BKI_DEFAULT(f);
       -
       -    /* is it a window function? */
       -    bool        proiswindow BKI_DEFAULT(f);

5. Finally, run `make reformat-dat-files` to remove the useless old entries from `pg_proc.dat`.

For further examples of scripts used for bulk editing, see `convert_oid2name.pl` and `remove_pg_type_oid_symbols.pl` attached to this message: https://www.postgresql.org/message-id/CAJVSVGVX8gXnPm+Xa=DxR7kFYprcQ1tNcCT5D0O3ShfnM6jehA@mail.gmail.com