Re: Bug with pg_ctl -w/wait and config-only directories

Tom Lane wrote:
> Bruce Momjian <bruce(at)momjian(dot)us> writes:
> > Config-only directories seem to be only adding confusion. All possible
> > solutions seem to be adding more code and user requirements, which the
> > creation of symlinks avoids.
>
> > Is it time for me to ask on 'general' if removal of this feature is
> > warranted?
>
> Well, the way we could fix it is to invent the parse-the-config-files
> option that was alluded to recently. Then pg_ctl would continue to
> take the -D switch or PGDATA environment variable with the same meaning
> that the postmaster attaches to it, and would do something like
>
> postgres --print-config-value=data_directory -D $PGDATA
>
> to extract the actual location of the data directory.

That works, assuming the server was not started with -o
'data_directory=/abc'. The only workaround there would be to have
pg_ctl supply the -o, even on pg_ctl stop, and parse that in pg_ctl.

> Whether this is worth the trouble is highly debatable IMO. One obvious
> risk factor for pg_ctl stop/restart is that the current contents of
> postgresql.conf might not match what they were when the postmaster was
> started.
>
> I was never exactly thrilled with the separate-config-directory design
> to start with, so I'm probably not the person to opine on whether we
> could get away with removing it.

The entire thing seems logically broken, to the point where even if we
did get code working, few users would even understand it.

--
Bruce Momjian <bruce(at)momjian(dot)us> http://momjian.us
EnterpriseDB http://enterprisedb.com

+ It's impossible for everything to be true. +