Re: Detecting corrupted pages earlier

Andrew Sullivan wrote:
> On Thu, Apr 03, 2003 at 02:39:17PM -0500, Tom Lane wrote:
> > just not listing zero_damaged_pages in postgresql.conf.sample? We
> > already have several variables deliberately not listed there ...
>
> Hey, that might be a good solution. Of course, it doesn't solve the
> "doomsday device" problem, but nobody who uses it can complain that
> they didn't know what the thing would do.

Shouldn't each variable listed in postgresql.conf.sample have comments
right above it explaining what it does anyway? A self-documenting
configuration file is a really handy thing to have.

If it's documented that way in postgresql.conf.sample (and adjacent to
the variable itself, even) then nobody who changed it would have
grounds to complain about not knowing what the variable did.

I'm much more in favor of being lucid and upfront about everything
than hiding things just because they might be dangerous.

That said, all sorts of warnings and such should be in that bit of
documentation in postgresql.conf.sample, so that it's made abundantly
clear that this particular option is not one to be messing with except
when you know exactly what you're doing...

--
Kevin Brown kevin(at)sysexperts(dot)com