Received: from makus.postgresql.org ([98.129.198.125]) by malur.postgresql.org with esmtp (Exim 4.72) (envelope-from ) id 1T1uY4-0006dy-KN for pgsql-docs@postgresql.org; Thu, 16 Aug 2012 07:31:20 +0000 Received: from mail-vb0-f46.google.com ([209.85.212.46]) by makus.postgresql.org with esmtp (Exim 4.72) (envelope-from ) id 1T1uY3-0002D0-C0 for pgsql-docs@postgresql.org; Thu, 16 Aug 2012 07:31:20 +0000 Received: by vbbff1 with SMTP id ff1so2151179vbb.19 for ; Thu, 16 Aug 2012 00:31:18 -0700 (PDT) DKIM-Signature: v=1; a=rsa-sha256; c=relaxed/relaxed; d=gmail.com; s=20120113; h=mime-version:sender:in-reply-to:references:from:date :x-google-sender-auth:message-id:subject:to:cc:content-type; bh=q//I+IWb3sf6l8GBvtf9ch6JzUFiz84EovO8m2OaB4Y=; b=J/F7tgl1rcdheMnJ4IrxQa+kroyXIn15zgHhkhF1PLbDdBx4tz7rNkCkbwgX/xOaeC T03dyhxQKYMGK8+TOjUtWbG3UHC2al2FrAPKo1ZvzUzwSIu+dWESsEkIjsAgAAgHB2+D 6d3Dyjs4YeNxp52wIFUmRFHUrXzHx4YhSl+5FHg+DPolBM6iCDNA9nGfl7uiwVxYX0+2 WDOYT4QxAsFEB00zlbsXCNzr4FkyAH/qua63RRBPw6taQYWmtIceF8dl7SzfbG+8i0/s Ry1r+ihuaBEy0fqg+ekNtCjyFPt4UQht9OocYGffpJeU9evqkwV96nPsaJd3fFz4Z0Ya C8ew== Received: by 10.58.221.66 with SMTP id qc2mr113475vec.30.1345102278620; Thu, 16 Aug 2012 00:31:18 -0700 (PDT) MIME-Version: 1.0 Received: by 10.58.15.130 with HTTP; Thu, 16 Aug 2012 00:30:48 -0700 (PDT) In-Reply-To: <20120816030021.GI8353@momjian.us> References: <201111041632.pA4GWDH15361@momjian.us> <20120816030021.GI8353@momjian.us> From: Thom Brown Date: Thu, 16 Aug 2012 08:30:48 +0100 X-Google-Sender-Auth: caciK5nFAfm8YbbBQuRA-7uQflg Message-ID: Subject: Re: PGDATA confusion To: Bruce Momjian Cc: pgsql-docs Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1 X-Pg-Spam-Score: -2.6 (--) X-Archive-Number: 201208/28 X-Sequence-Number: 7421 On 16 August 2012 04:00, Bruce Momjian wrote: > On Fri, Nov 4, 2011 at 12:32:13PM -0400, Bruce Momjian wrote: >> Thom Brown wrote: >> > > So if one set PGDATA to somewhere which had no database files at all, >> > > but just postgresql.conf, it could still work (assuming it, in turn, >> > > set data_directory correctly), but not vice versa. ?It would make more >> > > sense to call it PGCONFIG, although I'm not proposing that, especially >> > > since PGDATA makes sense when it comes to initdb. >> > > >> > > There are probably plenty of other places in the docs which also don't >> > > adequately describe PGDATA or -D. >> > > >> > > Any disagreements? ?If not, should I write a patch (since someone will >> > > probably accuse me of volunteering anyway) or would someone like to >> > > commit some adjustments? >> > >> > No opinions on this? >> >> Yes. I had kept it to deal with later. Please work on a doc patch to >> try to clean this up. pg_upgrade just went through this confusion and I >> also was unhappy at how vague things are in this area. >> >> Things got very confusing with pg_upgrade when PGDATA pointed to the >> configuration directory and the data_directory GUC pointed to the data >> directory. > > I have applied the attached doc patch for PG 9.3 to clarify PGDATA. Thanks Bruce. -- Thom