Re: timezone GUC

Robert Haas <robertmhaas@gmail.com> writes:
> On Sun, May 22, 2011 at 9:54 PM, Tom Lane <tgl@sss.pgh.pa.us> wrote:
>> But also, 99.999% of the time
>> it would be completely wasted effort because the DBA wouldn't remove the
>> postgresql.conf setting at all, ever.

> Well, by that argument, we ought not to worry about masterminding what
> happens if the DBA does do such a thing -- just run the whole process
> and damn the torpedoes.  If it causes a brief database stall, at least
> they'll get the correct behavior.

Yeah, maybe.  But I don't especially want to document "If you remove a
pre-existing setting of TimeZone from postgresql.conf, expect your
database to lock up hard for multiple seconds" ... and I think we
couldn't responsibly avoid mentioning it.  At the moment that disclaimer
reads more like "If you remove a pre-existing setting of TimeZone from
postgresql.conf, the database will fall back to a default that might not
be what you were expecting".  Is A really better than B?
        regards, tom lane