Andrew Sullivan <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> writes: > On Fri, Jul 05, 2002 at 12:39:13PM -0400, Lamar Owen wrote: >> One other usability note: why can't postmaster perform the steps of >> an initdb if -D points to an empty directory?
> Rank newbies shouldn't be protected in this way, partly because if > something goes wrong, _they won't know what to do_. Please, please, > don't be putting automagic, database destroying functions like that > into the postmaster. I agree completely with Andrew, even though an auto-initdb on an empty directory presumably won't destroy any data. What it *does* do is effectively mask a DBA error. We'll be getting panic-stricken support calls/emails saying "all my databases are gone! Postgres sucks!" when the problem is just that PG was restarted with the wrong -D pointer. The existing behavior points that out loud and clear, in a context where the DBA shouldn't have too much trouble figuring out what he did wrong. regards, tom lane ---------------------------(end of broadcast)--------------------------- TIP 1: subscribe and unsubscribe commands go to [EMAIL PROTECTED]