At 2009-10-13 17:25:15 +0100, dpage(at)pgadmin(dot)org wrote:
>
> I cannot find anything that is obviously 'elsewhere' in the docs -
> does that need fixing, or do my searching skills need improving?
I don't know, but…
> *starts reading source code* :-)
Look at what fe-protocol3.c:build_startup_packet() does with its options
argument (and see fe-connect.c:EnvironmentOptions to see what is passed
to it). Basically, libpq sets some connection parameters to values taken
from the environment (e.g. client_encoding from PGCLIENTENCODING). What
the documentation you quoted is saying is that the wire protocol doesn't
know or care where the values came from.
-- ams