Hello Tom,
>> Why not move the printVersion call right after the connection is 
>> created, at line 6374?
>
> I started with that, and one of the 001_pgbench_with_server.pl
> tests fell over --- it was expecting no stdout output before a
> "Perhaps you need to do initialization" failure.  If you don't
> mind changing that,
Why would I mind?
> I agree that printing immediately after the connection is made is a bit 
> less astonishing.
Ok, so let's just update the test? Attached a proposal with the version 
moved.
Note that if no connections are available, then you do not get the 
version, which may be a little bit strange. Attached v3 prints out the 
local version in that case. Not sure whether it is worth the effort.
-- 
Fabien.