Re: initdb failure with Postgres 8.4.4

On Fri, Dec 10, 2010 at 10:54 AM, Andrew Dunstan <andrew@dunslane.net> wrote:
> Here's my understanding.
>
> It's not initdb that's really complaining. The timezone files are not inputs
> to initdb. It's the postgres that initdb invokes that's complaining.

That was my impression, too, from the log that was sent.

> Postges will look for the share file in two places: the configured install
> directory or a share directory whose path is calculated relative to its own
> location. initdb's -L flag doesn't override that, it only overrides where
> initdb itself looks for files (such as the BKI file). The bottom line I
> think is that if you intend to use a non-standard layout you need to specify
> the paths for everything and then not move them after installation. If you
> want the installation to be movable, just specify --prefix, but then if you
> move it you have to move the whole thing together. You can't just relocate
> one directory and expect it to work. It won't.

So in theory we could have a GUC under "file locations" to override
this, similarly to data_directory or hba_file or ident_file.  But
since it's been like this for a really long time (I think), I wouldn't
be inclined to go monkeying with it unless more than one person
complains.

-- 
Robert Haas
EnterpriseDB: http://www.enterprisedb.com
The Enterprise PostgreSQL Company