Re: jsonb_set() strictness considered harmful to data

Steven Pousty wrote:

> I would think though that raising an exception is better than a
> default behavior which deletes data.

I can't help but feel the need to make the point that
the function is not deleting anything. It is just
returning null. The deletion of data is being performed
by an update statement that uses the function's return
value to set a column value.

I don't agree that raising an exception in the function
is a good idea (perhaps unless it's valid to assume
that this function will only ever be used in such a
context). Making the column not null (as already
suggested) and having the update statement itself raise
the exception seems more appropriate if an exception is
desirable. But that presumes an accurate understanding
of the behaviour of jsonb_set.

Really, I think the best fix would be in the
documentation so that everyone who finds the function
in the documentation understands its behaviour
immediately.