Thread: pg_service file questions

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Hi,

I was scanning through the postgresql documentations when i came across this webpage: PostgreSQL: Documentation: 15: 34.17. The Connection Service File . I am fairly new to database and i have a few questions regarding this:

1. Is pg_service.conf and .pg_service.conf (with a dot at the front) different files?
2. The documentation stated that the .pg_service.conf is named %APPDATA%\postgresql.pg_service.conf on windows which is a directory i can not find.
3. The documentation also stated that we can check for the sysconfigdir environment variable and point it to somewhere else, but when i checked for the sysconfigdir path, it is pointing to C:/PROGRA~1/POSTGR~1/15/etc which again, is a directory i can not find : to be specific, i can not find the etc file stated in the pathing.

So where should i put this pg_service file and does it link with the database itself?

> On 20/06/2023 08:11 CEST JUN ZHI <zhi_jun95@hotmail.com> wrote:
>
> I was scanning through the postgresql documentations when i came across this
> webpage:PostgreSQL: Documentation: 15: 34.17. The Connection Service File
> (https://www.postgresql.org/docs/current/libpq-pgservice.html). I am fairly
> new to database and i have a few questions regarding this:
>
> 1. Is pg_service.conf and .pg_service.conf (with a dot at the front)
> different files?

Yes, they're different files.  pg_service.conf is the global service file and
.pg_service.conf the user-specific file in your home directory.

> 2. The documentation stated that the .pg_service.conf is named
> %APPDATA%\postgresql.pg_service.conf on windows which is a directory i can
> not find.

%APPDATA% should resolve to C:/Users/<username>/AppData/Roaming

You can run echo %APPDATA% in cmd.exe or echo $env:APPDATA in PowerShell to
show the actual path.  Or enter %APPDATA% in the File Explorer address bar.

You have to create directory %APPDATA%/postgresql.

> 3. The documentation also stated that we can check for the sysconfigdir
> environment variable and point it to somewhere else, but when i checked for
> the sysconfigdir path, it is pointing to C:/PROGRA~1/POSTGR~1/15/etc which
> again, is a directory i can not find : to be specific, i can not find the etc
> file stated in the pathing.

You have to create directory etc if you want to put config files there.

> So where should i put this pg_service file and does it link with the database
> itself?

I would go with the user service file because it takes precedence over the
system-wide file.  The default path of the system-wide file only works on the
database server where Postgres is running.

What do you mean with "link with the database"?  The service is file is read by
libpq before opening a database connection.

--
Erik