Re: Installation instructions vs binaries

On Wed, Jul 15, 2020 at 4:13 AM Magnus Hagander <magnus(at)hagander(dot)net> wrote:

> It's kind of strange that if you start your PostgreSQL journey by reading
> our instructions, you get nothing useful about installing PostgreSQL from
> binary packages other than "go ask somebody else about it". Yet we have
> pretty good step by step instructions on our *website* for it.
>
> Attached patch adds a chapter to the docs about installing from binaries,
> and refers those users to the website download instructions (and updates
> the Windows instructions to include an actual link to the website).
>
> It also adds mention of it in a few other places - -there are probably
> more that could use some help with that in the future. But I've seen a lot
> of people get confused by our documentation assuming everything is from
> source when it comes to initdb and pg_ctl that I think it's worth specially
> mentioning it there.
>

Thanks. Adding tips calling out common package-specific/handled pieces
seems ok.

One typo for the patch as-is:

+ When PostgreSQL is installed using binary packages, starting and
stopping
+ of the system is normally integrated with the service management on the
+ platform. Refer to the documentation for the documentation for these
+ packages and the platform for more information.

Remove "for the documentation"

However, maybe we should avoid repeated use of the passive "When PostgreSQL
is installed using binary packages". Consider just: "PostgreSQL binary
packages". e.g.,

PostgreSQL binary packages normally include platform-appropriate service
management (starting and stopping). Consult the package documentation for
more information.

(the other two can be rewording similarly if this is deemed better - all
three should be consistent).

David J.