Tom Lane wrote: > Bruce Momjian <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> writes: > > So, we add data_dir to postgresql.conf, and add -C/PGCONFIG to > > postmaster. > > Wait one second. You are blithely throwing in a PGCONFIG variable > without any detailed proposal of exactly how it will work. Does > that override a PGDATA environment variable? How do they interact?
I am just throwing out ideas. I don't think we are near interaction issues yet. I think the big question is whether we want the default to install the configs in a separate directory, pgsql/etc, or just allow the specification of a separate location. Advantages of pgsql/etc are initdb-safe, and easier backups. I do think PGCONFIG would be helpful for the same reason that PGDATA is. However, there is clearly a problem of how does data_dir interact with PGDATA. The big question is whether PGDATA is still our driving config variable, and PGCONFIG/-C is just an additional option, or whether we are moving in a direction where PGCONFIG/-C is going to be the driving value, and data_dir is going to be read as part of that. > Also, please note Kevin Brown's nearby arguments against using PGDATA > at all, which surely apply with equal force to a PGCONFIG variable. > Now, I don't buy that Kevin's arguments are enough reason to break > backwards compatibility by removing PGDATA --- but I think they are > enough reason not to introduce a new environment variable. PGCONFIG > wouldn't offer any backwards-compatibility value, and that tilts the > scales against it. Weren't you just showing how you set environment variables to easily configure stuff. If you use a separate configure dir, isn't PGCONFIG part of that? > > Regarding Tom's idea of replacing data_dir with a full path during > > initdb, I think we are better having it be relative to the config > > directory, that way if they move pgsql/, the system still works. > > Good thought, but you're assuming that initdb knows where the config > files will eventually live. If we do that, then moving the config > files breaks the installation. I think it will be fairly common to > let initdb drop its proposed config files into $PGDATA, and then > manually place them where they should go (or even more likely, > manually merge them with a prior version). Probably better to force > datadir to be an absolute path in the config file. (In fact, on safety > grounds I'd argue in favor of rejecting a datadir value taken from the > config file that wasn't absolute.) Maybe. Not sure. > > I also think we should start telling people to use PGCONFIG rather than > > PGDATA. Then, in 7.5, we move the default config file location to > > pgsql/etc, and tell folks to point there rather than /data. > > I agree with none of this. This is not improvement, this is only change > for the sake of change. The packagers will do what they want to do > (and are already doing, mostly) regardless. Well, it is a step forward in terms of initdb-safe and easier backups. Several people said they liked that. I thought you were one of them. This is back to the big question, who drives things in the default install, config file or pgdata. -- Bruce Momjian | http://candle.pha.pa.us [EMAIL PROTECTED] | (610) 359-1001 + If your life is a hard drive, | 13 Roberts Road + Christ can be your backup. | Newtown Square, Pennsylvania 19073 ---------------------------(end of broadcast)--------------------------- TIP 1: subscribe and unsubscribe commands go to [EMAIL PROTECTED]