Re: Overhauling GUCS

On Jun 3, 2008, at 20:48, Greg Smith wrote:

> Correct, but completely off-topic regardless. One problem to be
> solved here is to take PostgreSQL tuning from zero to, say, 50%
> automatic. Wander the user lists for a few months; the number of
> completely misconfigured systems out there is considerable, partly
> because the default values for many parameters are completely
> unreasonable for modern hardware and there's no easy way to improve
> on that without someone educating themselves. Getting distracted by
> the requirements of the high-end systems will give you a problem you
> have no hope of executing in a reasonable time period.

Exactly. The issue is that application developers, who are not DBAs,
have no idea how to tune PostgreSQL, and postgresql.conf is daunting
and confusing. So they use a different database that's "faster".

I think that right now postgresql.conf is designed for full-time DBAs,
rather than folks who might want to target PostgreSQL for an
application they're developing. We want to attract the latter
(without, of course, any expense with the former). Changing how
configuration works so that it's easier to understand and, if
possible, at least partly automatically tunable would go a long way
towards making PostgreSQL friendlier for developers, IMHO.

Best,

David