Re: SERVICEFILE shows wrong file after servicefile fallback

On Tue, Jun 02, 2026 at 09:42:23PM +0800, Chao Li wrote:
> While testing “psql: Add variable SERVICEFILE”, I found a small
> issue where SERVICEFILE may show the wrong value.
>
> While tracing the code, I noticed there is a fallback path. If the
> service file specified in the connection string does not contain the
> requested service, libpq falls back to pg_service.conf. So I tested
> the following case:

Right, as of the default file in PGSYSCONFDIR. This qualifies as an
open item for v19.

> I think the bug was actually introduced by the previous commit
> 092f3c63efc6. In parseServiceFile(), if the service file has already
> been set in the connection options, it refuses to update the value,
> so the fallback service file is not synced to the connection
> options. Then SERVICEFILE is read from the connection options, which
> still contain the original file specified on the command line. So,
> SERVICEFILE just makes the bug visible.

Yep, it looks like you are right here. It does not make sense to show
in SERVICEFILE the file that has been skipped in favor of the second
default in PGSYSCONFDIR. We need to show the latter. An \echo of
SERVICEFILE is an interesting way to show your point. Why not.

Thanks for the report, will fix.
--
Michael