Re: Disabling ALTER SYSTEM SET WAS: Re: ALTER SYSTEM SET command to change postgresql.conf parameters - Mailing list pgsql-hackers

On Tue, Aug 6, 2013 at 3:31 PM, Bruce Momjian <bruce@momjian.us> wrote:
>> I'd like to look at use cases, and let's see how ALTER SYSTEM SET
>> addresses or doesn't address these use cases.  I'd really like it if
>> some other folks also posted use cases they know of.
>>
>> (1) Making is easier for GUIs to manage PostgreSQL settings.
>
> One of the traps here is that while it makes it easier, it also could
> trap the user if they don't have the knowledge to fix a problem because
> would need to acquire the knowledge while they are trying to fix the
> problem, rather then while they are making the initial change.


I think the more serious problem here is not about knowledge
acquisition, but access to problem-fixing means. As was said some
posts ago, if a DBA has access to a superuser account but not to
server configuration files, he can lock himself out for good. No
amount of knowledge will avail him/her. That's bad.