From: Michael Grimm <trashcan@ellael.org>
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Subject: Re: Howto tell pg_ctl to use a non-default directory for config files
Date: Fri, 12 Jun 2026 22:59:10 +0200
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arif rahman <arif0729@icloud.com> wrote:

> In PostgreSQL, the configuration files do not have to live inside the =
data directory. You can place them elsewhere and tell PostgreSQL where =
to find them.
>=20
> # Set postgresql.conf outside the data directory
> hba_file =3D '/usr/local/etc/postgres/pg_hba.conf=E2=80=99
>=20
> Then start=20
> postgres -D /var/db/postgres/data \
>  -c config_file=3D/usr/local/etc/postgres/postgresql.conf

JFTR: that worked perfectly well.

But, I moved on to use pg_auto_failover which is very picky w.r.t. to =
the location of config files. Thus I will have to become used to keep =
config files where ever expected by the given service =E2=80=A6 shrug.

Thanks for your working setup and regards,
Michael=