Re: Overhauling GUCS

Andreas Pflug <pgadmin@pse-consulting.de> writes:
> Tom Lane wrote:
>> * Can we build a "configuration wizard" to tell newbies what settings
>> they need to tweak?

> It's certainly one thing to create an initial postgresql.conf from
> scratch after some inquiry, but a different level of problems to deal
> with when offering to change the settings. IMHO initial creation isn't
> enough, users will feel even more left alone if there are no tools
> helping them further. I guess most users will start tweaking after the
> server is already running for a while, with some config already in place.

Indeed, the wizard should be designed to assist with tweaking an
existing installation.  I see no value at all to trying to run it
before/during initdb.

> That's when file format and/or APIs come into play. Preserving comments
> and/or using them in a wizard isn't too easy with the current format.

[ shrug... ]  We have already wasted more effort arguing about this
issue than it would take to do something good enough for a wizard
tool.  The great thing about simple text formats is that they're pretty
robust.  I think all we need to do is comment out any existing
setting(s) of the target variable and add the new setting before the
first such, perhaps with a comment indicating what added it and when.
If the user finds this too ugly, he can tweak it with a text editor.

This is even assuming that the tool needs to edit the file itself,
rather than just give advice.  The advice is the hard part, folks;
could we stop obsessing about trivia?
        regards, tom lane