Re: location of the configuration files - Mailing list pgsql-hackers

<br /><br /> Tom Lane wrote:<br /><blockquote cite="mid1552.1045034570@sss.pgh.pa.us" type="cite"><pre wrap="">Kevin
Brown<a class="moz-txt-link-rfc2396E" href="mailto:kevin@sysexperts.com"><kevin@sysexperts.com></a> writes:
</pre><blockquotetype="cite"><pre wrap="">I assume $PGDATA was around long before GUC?   </pre></blockquote><pre
wrap="">
Yes, it was.  But I have not yet seen an argument here that justifies
why $SOMECONFIGDIRECTORY/postgresql.conf is better than
$PGDATA/postgresql.conf.  The latter keeps all the related files
together.  The former seems only to introduce unnecessary complexity.
You can only justify it as simpler if you propose hardwiring a value for
$SOMECONFIGDIRECTORY ... which is a proposal that will not fly with any
of the core developers, because we all run multiple versions of Postgres
on our machines so that we can deal with back-version bug reports,
test installations, etc.  It is unlikely to fly with any of the RPM
packagers either, due to the wildly varying ideas out there about the
One True Place where applications should put their config files.

(This point was pretty much why mlw's previous proposal was rejected,
IIRC.) </pre></blockquote> I wasn't talking about a "default directory" I was talking about configuring a database in a
configurationfile.<br /><br /> While I accept that the PostgreSQL group can not be playing catch-up with other
databases,this does not preclude the notion accepting common practices and adopting them.<br /><br /> Understand, I
reallylike PostgreSQL. I like it better than Oracle, and it is my DB of choice.  That being said, I see what other DBs
doright. Putting the configuration in the data directory is "wrong," no other database or service under UNIX or Windows
doesthis, Period.<br /><br /> Does the PostgreSQL team know better than the rest of the world?<br /><br /> The idea
thata, more or less, arbitrary data location determines the database configuration is wrong. It should be obvious to
anyadministrator that a configuration file location which controls the server is the "right" way to do it.  Regardless
ofwhere ever you choose to put the default configuration file, it is EASIER to configure a database by using a file in
astandard configuration directory (/etc, /usr/etc, /usr/local/etc, /usr/local/pgsql/conf or what ever). The data
directoryshould not contain configuration data as it is typically dependent on where the admin chooses to mount
storage.<br/><br /> I am astounded that this point of view is missed by the core group.<br /><br /><br /> Mark.<br />