Re: Glitch in handling of postmaster -o options

Marko Kreen <marko@l-t.ee> writes:
> I am suggesting this.
> [ code snipped ]

Okay, that would mean that "-o '-S nnn'" still works, but "-o -F"
doesn't.

But ... the thing is, there is no reason for -o to exist anymore other
than backwards compatibility with existing startup scripts.  -o doesn't
do anything you can't do more cleanly and sanely with GUC options
(--sort_mem, etc).  So, I don't really see much value in keeping it
if you're going to break one of the more common usages --- which I'm
sure -o -F is.

Since the problem I identified is not likely to bite very many people,
my vote is not to try to apply a code solution now.  I think we should
leave the code alone, and instead document in 7.2 that -o is deprecated
(and explain what to do instead), with the intention of removing it in
7.3.  Giving people a release cycle's worth of notice seems sufficient.

Possibly we could also take this opportunity to deprecate -S and the
other options that are standing in the way of unified command line
options for postmasters and backends.
        regards, tom lane