The following bug has been logged online:
Bug reference: 4006
Logged by: David Schweikert
Email address: david(at)schweikert(dot)ch
PostgreSQL version: 8.3.0
Operating system: Linux
Description: pg_ctl assumes that all config files lie in
data_directory
Details:
pg_ctl doesn't work if you put postgresql.conf in a different directory than
the database data files. According to the documentation, this is however
considered a good practice:
http://www.postgresql.org/docs/8.3/interactive/runtime-config-file-locations
.html