Re: Alter system and reload causes bogus complaints about setting changes

On 04/07/14 04:57, Amit Kapila wrote:
> On Thu, Jul 3, 2014 at 2:46 PM, Mark Kirkwood <mark.kirkwood@catalyst.net.nz>

>> Hmmm - I didn't actually change the settings it is complaining
> about...and it is referring to the wrong file too. While this is hardly
> serious, it is likely to be immensely confusing for folk who have not been
> actively following the new changes for 9.4 (ahem...that could be a lot of
> people). It would be good to fix this before we end beta.
>
> This issue occurs mainly due to duplicate settings in postgresql.conf
> and postgresql.auto.conf (file where ALTER SYSTEM writes).  I have
> explained it in more detail in the below thread:
>
> http://www.postgresql.org/message-id/CAA4eK1+mUTjc=GXJK3bYtSwV2BmBni=PHEvBqLQkhdUV9cWd1A@mail.gmail.com
>
>

While you are correct about the cause (conflicting entries in
postgresql.conf and the auto conf) - the statement 'just eliminate them'
is not really acceptable. Why? because a completely default install via
'initdb' has settings uncommented in postgresql.conf, so anyone changing
the most likely-to-be changed settings (ahem - shared_buffers for
instance) will elicit this error when the change *something else* that
only requires a reload. I.e this is not a problem created by the user.

Also as I mentioned before, the error complains about the wrong file, so
the other statement 'the user can take appropriate action' is rather
disingenuous - how can they given the error is itself wrong?

I predict this is going to be a huge source of confusion for new users,
and at the very least the error message needs to be a) correct and b)
actually tell the user the remedy.

Regards

Mark