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

Peter Eisentraut wrote:

>After reading through the strong opinions about the location of the
>configuration files in the current and in previous threads, I must concede
>that despite the best intentions, the current "everything in one place"
>system is obviously not addressing the needs of the user.  So while we're
>at it we might as well consider more sweeping changes to bring the
>system in line with the "expected" or "standard" behaviour.
>
>Consider the following points:
>
>1. Most users will probably only run one server -- especially new users.
>
>2. Most users will expect configuration files somewhere under =~ /etc/ --
>   including new users.
>
>3. To run more than one server, special knowledge and configuration is
>   required anyway.
>
>Therefore, a wired-in configuration file location near /etc would be
>helpful or at least indifferent for most users.
>
>I suggest that we wire-in the location of the configuration files into the
>binaries as ${sysconfdir} as determined by configure.  This would default
>to /usr/local/pgsql/etc, so the "everything in one place" system is still
>somewhat preserved for those that care.  For the confused, we could for a
>while install into the data directory files named "postgresql.conf",
>"pg_hba.conf", etc. that only contain text like "This file is now to be
>found at @sysconfdir@ by popular demand."
>
In keeping with some of the more modern daemons (xinetd, etc) you might 
want to consider something like /etc/pgsql.d/ as a directory name.   Where as most folders with a .d contain a set of
filesor a referenced 
 
by the main config file in /etc.  This is on a RedHat system, but I 
think the logic applies well if you are flexible the location of the 
base system config directory.   (/usr/local/etc vs /etc, etc.)

>
>
>Furthermore, I suggest that we wire-in the default location of the data
>files as ${localstatedir} as determined by configure.  This would default
>to /usr/local/pgsql/var, which is not quite the same as the customary
>/usr/local/pgsql/data but it doesn't matter because with both "initdb" and
>"postmaster" defaulting to this directory and the configuration files
>elsewhere you don't really need to know except on few occasions.  Having
>this default would also save me a lot of typing during development. ;-)
>
>Surely we can also add a -C option to override the sysconfdir just as -D
>overrides localstatedir.  Those that refuse to convert can also set -C
>equal to -D and have the old setup.  Or the user can only specify -C to
>point to the former -D and use the proposed 'datadir' parameter to find
>the data area.
>
>But I find a wired-in configuration file location better than having to
>use -C everytime you want a "standard" setup because this way we force
>users to have consistent setups.
>
>What does this mean for multiple-server setups?  Basically you add a -C to
>each invocation or you replace -D by -C as explained above.  Or if you
>want to share the configuration file you only need to add the right -p
>option to each invocation.  This probably means someone will need to
>change their scripts but as we hear they don't like them anyway.  Someone
>that currently relies on a -D being sufficient will at least get a clean
>failure when the ports conflict.
>

>