Re: TODO questions - Mailing list pgsql-hackers

From Jeff Davis
Subject Re: TODO questions
Date
Msg-id 430CBB37.40005@empires.org
Whole thread Raw
In response to Re: TODO questions  (Tom Lane <tgl@sss.pgh.pa.us>)
List pgsql-hackers
Tom Lane wrote:
> Bruce Momjian <pgman@candle.pha.pa.us> writes:
> 
>>Jim C. Nasby wrote:
>>
>>>o Allow commenting of variables in postgresql.conf to restore them
>>>to defaults
>>>
>>>This doesn't work already?
> 
> 
>>The idea here is the when you comment something out, it should restore
>>its default.  Right now it keeps the previously uncommented out value,
>>which confuses people.
> 
> 
> But the contrary position is that a comment is a comment, not something
> that should act to change the state of the postmaster.
> 

I understand what you mean, but to be fair, it's not the comment that is
changing the behavior of the postmaster. Rather, it's the absence of a
setting in the configuration file that would suggest using the default.

It seems to me like a question of whether the configuration file should
be treated as:
a) the set of options for the postmaster
b) a set of changes to the options for the postmaster

The current behavior is (b), but many think (a) is more intuitive in the
context of a configuration file. Perhaps (b) would be more intuitive if
it were in the context of (for example) an admin tool that took options
on standard input.

Regards,Jeff Davis


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