<Argh, wrong sender again, sorry [again] for the repost. I must tweak my mail client configuration...>
>>> Good. So we seem to agree that GUCS are transactional?
> 
> I'm surprised, I never knew this.
I must admit that it was also a (good) surprise for me.
The documentation says it:
"""
If SET (or equivalently SET SESSION) is issued within a transaction that is 
later aborted, the effects of the SET command disappear when the transaction is 
rolled back. Once the surrounding transaction is committed, the effects will 
persist until the end of the session, unless overridden by another SET.
"""
But I have not found anything clear about user-defined parameters.
-- 
Fabien.