Re: timezone GUC

On Sun, May 22, 2011 at 10:24 PM, Tom Lane <tgl@sss.pgh.pa.us> wrote:
> Robert Haas <robertmhaas@gmail.com> writes:
>> On Sun, May 22, 2011 at 9:54 PM, Tom Lane <tgl@sss.pgh.pa.us> wrote:
>>> But also, 99.999% of the time
>>> it would be completely wasted effort because the DBA wouldn't remove the
>>> postgresql.conf setting at all, ever.
>
>> Well, by that argument, we ought not to worry about masterminding what
>> happens if the DBA does do such a thing -- just run the whole process
>> and damn the torpedoes.  If it causes a brief database stall, at least
>> they'll get the correct behavior.
>
> Yeah, maybe.  But I don't especially want to document "If you remove a
> pre-existing setting of TimeZone from postgresql.conf, expect your
> database to lock up hard for multiple seconds" ... and I think we
> couldn't responsibly avoid mentioning it.  At the moment that disclaimer
> reads more like "If you remove a pre-existing setting of TimeZone from
> postgresql.conf, the database will fall back to a default that might not
> be what you were expecting".  Is A really better than B?

Well, I'm not entirely sure, but I lean toward yes.  Anyone else have
an opinion?

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