On Thu, 2020-07-09 at 15:25 +0000, PG Doc comments form wrote:
> I'm searching for what a cluster is and how to create one. The
> documentation tells me to use initdb -D path/to/cluster. I am told that
> this is installed when I installed postgresql. I try to run it with no
> success. Searching for an answer I find that I'm supposed to use
> pg_createcluster because initdb is version dependent and not made
> executable. It seems like there is an omission here as the documentation on
> this page also mentions pg_ctl which my system (Ubuntu 18.04) knows nothing
> about using the 'which' command. I can imagine that someone might argue
> that this is system dependent - I don't know whether that is true or not. I
> have generally found the documentation excellent and certainly not inward
> looking. For instance the documentation on replication strategies includes
> proprietary solutions.
>
> I would suggest that you include a paragraph stating that various operating
> systems use other commands to avoid version conflict and suggest the reader
> search for '<user-system> pg_ctl'. I can understand why you might not want
> to link to external sites in your documentation. (While writing this I have
> searched to make sure I'm not writing rubbish and already understand that
> pg_createcluster is a Debian solution/variant.)
Something like the attached?
Yours,
Laurenz Albe
From 001e5a31cc90bf307eb748a47f5a7b2389ea2f22 Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001
From: Laurenz Albe <laurenz.a...@cybertec.at>
Date: Fri, 10 Jul 2020 08:49:59 +0200
Subject: [PATCH] Document that installation packages may provide other tools
Many people who install PostgreSQL with installation packages
will read "Server Setup and Operation" first.
Hence, place a note there that package providers may provide
additional tools for creating and managing clusters.
---
doc/src/sgml/runtime.sgml | 9 +++++++++
1 file changed, 9 insertions(+)
diff --git a/doc/src/sgml/runtime.sgml b/doc/src/sgml/runtime.sgml
index 331d01b444..2b17ad94bb 100644
--- a/doc/src/sgml/runtime.sgml
+++ b/doc/src/sgml/runtime.sgml
@@ -64,6 +64,15 @@
information about creating new databases within a cluster.)
</para>
+ <note>
+ <para>
+ The following describes the core PostgreSQL commands to create a database
+ cluster. If you installed PostgreSQL with installation packages, there
+ may be other additional or scripts to conveniently create and manage
+ clusters. Consult the documentation of your package provider.
+ </para>
+ </note>
+
<para>
In file system terms, a database cluster is a single directory
under which all data will be stored. We call this the <firstterm>data
--
2.21.3
