Re: ALTER SYSTEM vs symlink

* Andrew Dunstan (andrew@dunslane.net) wrote:
> On 11/02/2015 09:36 AM, Tom Lane wrote:
> >Andrew Dunstan <andrew@dunslane.net> writes:
> >>I don't know if this was discussed at the time ALTER SYSTEM was
> >>implemented, but I have just discovered that if postgresql.auto.conf is
> >>a symlink to a file elsewhere, ALTER SYSTEM will happily break that link
> >>and write its own local copy. That strikes me as rather unfriendly. Why
> >>not just truncate the file rather than unlink it as it's being
> >>rewritten? Even if we don't want to do that a warning in the docs might
> >>help users avoid the "mistake" I just made.
> >Frankly, that behavior strikes me as a good idea.  There is no situation,
> >IMV, where it's sane to try to put a symlink there.
>
> OK. I was experimenting with some backup procedures, and I have
> since abandoned the approach I was following. However, it does seem
> like it's worth documenting the behaviour.

No problem with that, certainly.

Thanks!

Stephen