Re: Improving postgresql.conf

Tom Lane wrote:

>
>That was another point I was about to make, which is that there are lots
>of other reasons why the active value of some config variable might not
>be what postgresql.conf says.  We are *not* ripping out the entire GUC
>facility just because some people haven't bothered to read the
>documentation about it ;-).
>
>Maybe the real problem here is that people think that postgresql.conf
>is the place to find out about current settings, and they just need to
>be re-educated to look at pg_settings or SHOW ALL instead.
>  
>

I agree. This could be supported by tools to show/edit/reload 
postgresql.conf, showing clearly what's default/running/configured.
I propose to support this by backend functions:
pg_configfile_reload()
pg_configfile_get(varname_text)
pg_configfile_set(varname_text, value_text)

to enable client tools (guess which I could think of :-) accessing 
postgresql.conf.

Regards,
Andreas