Re: Bug with pg_ctl -w/wait and config-only directories

Bruce Momjian <bruce@momjian.us> writes:
> Config-only directories seem to be only adding confusion.  All possible
> solutions seem to be adding more code and user requirements, which the
> creation of symlinks avoids.

> Is it time for me to ask on 'general' if removal of this feature is
> warranted?

Well, the way we could fix it is to invent the parse-the-config-files
option that was alluded to recently.  Then pg_ctl would continue to
take the -D switch or PGDATA environment variable with the same meaning
that the postmaster attaches to it, and would do something like
postgres --print-config-value=data_directory -D $PGDATA

to extract the actual location of the data directory.

Whether this is worth the trouble is highly debatable IMO.  One obvious
risk factor for pg_ctl stop/restart is that the current contents of
postgresql.conf might not match what they were when the postmaster was
started.

I was never exactly thrilled with the separate-config-directory design
to start with, so I'm probably not the person to opine on whether we
could get away with removing it.
        regards, tom lane