Re: SQL command to edit postgresql.conf, with comments

Dimitri Fontaine <dimitri@2ndQuadrant.fr> writes:
> Allow me to insist on this some more, because there's something
> important going on here. The other proposal (.auto) have a major failure
> mode that I don't think is acceptable.

>   SET PERMANENT work_mem TO '8 MB';
>   select pg_reload_conf();

> There's simply no way after this sequence to guess the current active
> value of work_mem,

Um, other than "show work_mem" or "select from pg_settings"?

The fact is that you cannot know the active value anyway without
checking, because what you did with SET PERMANENT might be overridden
in various session-local ways.  The proposal for hand-edited versus
machine-edited files just adds one more layer of possible overrides
to the existing half-dozen layers, all of which are widely considered
features not bugs.  So I see no merit in your argument.

> I'm being told that we're talking about something over 200 files and
> that's too many.

Yup, you're dead right about that.  Backup/restore of configurations
would become a real mess.
        regards, tom lane