The "random" regression test uses a function called oidrand(), which

takes two parameters, an OID x and an integer y, and returns "true" with
probability 1/y (the OID argument is ignored). This can be useful -- for
example, it can be used to select a random sampling of the rows in a
table (which is what the "random" regression test uses it for).

This patch removes that function, because it was old and messy. The old
function had the following problems:

- it was undocumented

- it was poorly named

- it was designed to workaround an optimizer bug that no longer exists
(the OID argument is to ensure that the optimizer won't optimize away
calls to the function; AFAIK marking the function as 'volatile' suffices
nowadays)

- it used a different random-number generation technique than the other
PSRNG-related functions in the backend do (it called random() like they
do, but it had its own logic for setting a set and deciding when to
reseed the RNG).

Ok, this patch removes oidrand(), oidsrand(), and userfntest(), and
improves the SGML docs a little bit (un-commenting the setseed()
documentation).

Neil Conway

src/include/utils/builtins.h

@@ -7,7 +7,7 @@
  * Portions Copyright (c) 1996-2002, PostgreSQL Global Development Group
  * Portions Copyright (c) 1994, Regents of the University of California
  *
- * $Id: builtins.h,v 1.207 2003/02/06 20:25:33 tgl Exp $
+ * $Id: builtins.h,v 1.208 2003/02/13 05:24:04 momjian Exp $
  *
  *-------------------------------------------------------------------------
  */
@@ -315,9 +315,6 @@ extern Datum float84ge(PG_FUNCTION_ARGS);
 /* misc.c */
 extern Datum nullvalue(PG_FUNCTION_ARGS);
 extern Datum nonnullvalue(PG_FUNCTION_ARGS);
-extern Datum oidrand(PG_FUNCTION_ARGS);
-extern Datum oidsrand(PG_FUNCTION_ARGS);
-extern Datum userfntest(PG_FUNCTION_ARGS);
 extern Datum current_database(PG_FUNCTION_ARGS);
 
 /* not_in.c */