Re: Question about databases in alternate locations...

Thomas Lockhart writes:
 > > Could anyone please tell me what I'm doing wrong?  I'm sure I'm just
 > > overlooking something, but what?
 >
 > As Jeff pointed out, the environment variable "P" must be known to the
 > server backend to be used in the WITH LOCATION clause. Using it in the
 > preceeding initlocation invocation was correct. The utility tries it
 > as an environment variable, then as an absolute path, so "initlocation
 > P" and "initlocation $P" are both valid. You can make the environment
 > variable known to the backend by defining it in the postgres account's
 > .cshrc or .bashrc file, or by explicitly setting it before firing up
 > the backend.
 >
 >                          - Thomas

Thanks to everyone who answered; my problem was that the backend knew
nothing about it.

That brings up a comment, a question, and an offer.  First, the comment: I
actually did check the user's guide before I posted the question, but the
description of initlocation doesn't mention it at all -- it just gives an
example that doesn't work unless the backend already knows about the
variable.  It does refer to the CREATE DATABASE section, but at a quick
glance (I know, I should have read more carefully, mea culpa!) I just saw
an example that looked similar to the initlocation example.

Now for the question.  What's the reason for using this method, as opposed
to using, say, a system catalog to hold the valid locations?  Historical?
Having to stop and restart the backend so it can re-read its environment
seems kind of archaic.

Now the offer.  I'm in the design stage of the process of converting a
fairly large legacy application to PostgreSQL.  It's going to be
essentially a complete re-write, but I should be able to do it in
more-or-less independent sections.  I really like what I've experienced so
far of PostgreSQL, I'd like to contribute, and modifying the postmaster to
use (or at least look at, if it exists) a system catalog for this info
might be a good way to get my feet wet.  Comments?

Thanks...
                - Rich

--
Richard Kuhns            rjk@grauel.com
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