Re: BUG #5206: wal_sync_method in stock postgresql.conf may be wrong

Robert Haas <robertmhaas(at)gmail(dot)com> writes:
> On Fri, Nov 20, 2009 at 6:56 PM, Alvaro Herrera <alvherre(at)postgresql(dot)org> wrote:
>> I have two suggestions to fix this:
>>
>> 1. avoid displaying any value at all as if it were the true default (this
>> would perhaps make the line invalid were the user to uncomment it)
>>
>> 2. change initdb so that it modifies that line too (along with
>> shared_buffers etc) to put the actual default value in there, but without
>> uncommenting it.
>>
>> I also have one non-suggestion:
>>
>> 3. do nothing

> I like #3 or #1 better than #2. Putting logic into initdb to edit
> the comments in the file doesn't really seem like a worthwhile use of
> time.

I agree, it seems like more work than the problem is worth. We could
change the entry to something like

#wal_sync_method = (platform-dependent) # the default is ...

> (I still think we should get rid of the commented-out settings
> altogether, but that's another argument...)

That's another reason not to expend work here --- it still seems
fairly likely that that might happen.

regards, tom lane