SQL99 part 2 clause 16.1 contains this note:
NOTE 327 - The characteristics of a transaction begun by a
<start transaction statement> are as specified in these General
Rules regardless of the characteristics specified by any
preceding <set transaction statement>. That is, even if one
or more characteristics are omitted by the <start transaction
statement>, the defaults specified in the Syntax Rules of this
Subclause are effective and are not affected by any (preceding)
<set transaction statement>.
In other words, this should work:
peter=# set session characteristics as transaction read only;
SET
peter=# start transaction;
START TRANSACTION
peter=# create table test (a int);
ERROR: transaction is read-only
because the default of a bare "start transaction" is read write. I
propose that we change this to follow the standard and keep the
traditional behavior for BEGIN only.
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