Re: src/ports/pgcheckdir.c - Ignore dot directories...

Sean Chittenden <sean(at)chittenden(dot)org> wrote:

> Currently src/port/pgcheckdir.c will reject non-empty
> directories, which is an issue during initdb(1) when PGDATA is
> also the mount point for filesystems that support snapshots (e.g.
> ZFS or UFS2).

> Granted it's not hard to create a subdirectory, initdb there and
> move the contents of the files around, it's extra work that
> shouldn't be required.

I feel that it is very bad practice to use the mount point as the
PGDATA directory.  It forcloses a lot of reasonable actions that
someone managing the database server might want to take.

It's hard to get enthusiastic about a patch to make bad practice
more convenient.  I would rather add a sentence or two to the
initdb documentation recommending that a cluster not be created at
a mount point; it should be created in a directory underneath the
mount point.

-Kevin