Default Configuration/Tuning - Summary

So, to summarise the various discussions:

1. There is the "hard" problem of figuring out near-optimum config for a given
set of hardware/data/usage patterns. Once we know how to figure this out, a
pg_tune tool could be written.

2. There is the "simple" problem of replacing the current default with
something more suitable / letting users know the defaults are unsuitable.

For (2) there have been suggestions to have postgresql.conf.tiny / small / big
/ many-users etc.

My tuppence-worth: have a new setting PG_CONFIG_NAME = 'small' or whatever and
make sure this is reported on startup of a psql session. The default setting
could be called UNCONFIGURED. So, it would read:

Welcome to psql, the PostgreSQL interactive terminal.

Type:  \copyright for distribution terms
       \h for help with SQL commands
       \? for help on internal slash commands
       \g or terminate with semicolon to execute query
       \q to quit
version=7.9.9, config=UNCONFIGURED
richardh=>

This would also help the situation where people have multiple config files for
different scenarios (e.g. development systems).
--
  Richard Huxton