Re: Remove fsync ON/OFF as a visible option? - Mailing list pgsql-hackers

* David G. Johnston:

> On Sunday, March 22, 2015, Florian Weimer <fw@deneb.enyo.de> wrote:
>
>> * David G. Johnston:
>>
>> > "​enables or disables data durability ​promise of ACID." ?
>>
>> “fsync = on” only works if the storage stack doesn't do funny things.
>> Depending on the system, it might not be sufficient.
>>
>
> Allows for (underlying storage not withstanding) or disables, then.

Maybe.

> But that distinction is present no matter what so from the standpoint the
> alternative is no worse and at least tells the user that a key promise of
> RDBMS is being voluntarily waived if they disable this setting.

I don't think this will matter in the end.  The existing
postgresql.conf template does not suggest at all that fsync=off makes
things go substantially faster.  Administrators obviously get the idea
from somewhere else, and they will continue to follow that advice no
matter what the configuration template says.