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Subject: BUG #19540: Inconsistent integer-to-octal formatting for permission
 GUCs in pg_settings (boot_val vs setting)
To: pgsql-bugs@lists.postgresql.org
From: PG Bug reporting form <noreply@postgresql.org>
Cc: jobinau@gmail.com
Reply-To: jobinau@gmail.com, pgsql-bugs@lists.postgresql.org
Date: Tue, 30 Jun 2026 06:45:35 +0000
Message-ID: <19540-e641040b089ab768@postgresql.org>
Auto-Submitted: auto-generated
Archived-At: 
 <https://www.postgresql.org/message-id/19540-e641040b089ab768%40postgresql.org>
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The following bug has been logged on the website:

Bug reference:      19540
Logged by:          Jobin Augustine
Email address:      jobinau@gmail.com
PostgreSQL version: 18.4
Operating system:   All
Description:       =20

This is more of an undocumented behavior in all PostgreSQL versions.

Steps to reproduce:
postgres=3D# SELECT name, setting, boot_val
FROM pg_settings
WHERE name IN ('data_directory_mode', 'log_file_mode',
'unix_socket_permissions');

Actual Result :
          name           | setting | boot_val
-------------------------+---------+----------
 data_directory_mode     | 0700    | 448
 log_file_mode           | 0600    | 384
 unix_socket_permissions | 0777    | 511
(3 rows)

File/Directory permissions like 448,384 and 511 may not make a good sense
for a user. Either a decoded value or mentioning it in docs would be great.
Displaying the value consistent with "setting" column is most desirable from
a user perspective.

Thank you,
Jobin.