From: Tom Lane <tgl@sss.pgh.pa.us>
To: Andreas Pflug <pgadmin@pse-consulting.de>
Cc: pgsql-hackers@postgresql.org
Subject: Re: Overhauling GUCS
Date: Wed, 04 Jun 2008 20:15:12 -0400
Message-ID: <7395.1212624912@sss.pgh.pa.us> (raw)
In-Reply-To: <48472D26.8040408@pse-consulting.de>
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<Pine.GSO.4.64.0806020452220.26912@westnet.com>
<17932.1212415926@sss.pgh.pa.us>
<20080604131810.GH65238@decibel.org>
<4846A483.8000001@pse-consulting.de>
<Pine.GSO.4.64.0806041045520.2258@westnet.com>
<29525.1212613052@sss.pgh.pa.us>
<48472D26.8040408@pse-consulting.de>
Andreas Pflug <pgadmin@pse-consulting.de> writes:
> Tom Lane wrote:
>> * Can we build a "configuration wizard" to tell newbies what settings
>> they need to tweak?
> It's certainly one thing to create an initial postgresql.conf from
> scratch after some inquiry, but a different level of problems to deal
> with when offering to change the settings. IMHO initial creation isn't
> enough, users will feel even more left alone if there are no tools
> helping them further. I guess most users will start tweaking after the
> server is already running for a while, with some config already in place.
Indeed, the wizard should be designed to assist with tweaking an
existing installation. I see no value at all to trying to run it
before/during initdb.
> That's when file format and/or APIs come into play. Preserving comments
> and/or using them in a wizard isn't too easy with the current format.
[ shrug... ] We have already wasted more effort arguing about this
issue than it would take to do something good enough for a wizard
tool. The great thing about simple text formats is that they're pretty
robust. I think all we need to do is comment out any existing
setting(s) of the target variable and add the new setting before the
first such, perhaps with a comment indicating what added it and when.
If the user finds this too ugly, he can tweak it with a text editor.
This is even assuming that the tool needs to edit the file itself,
rather than just give advice. The advice is the hard part, folks;
could we stop obsessing about trivia?
regards, tom lane
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To: pgsql-hackers@postgresql.org
Cc: tgl@sss.pgh.pa.us, pgadmin@pse-consulting.de
Subject: Re: Overhauling GUCS
In-Reply-To: <7395.1212624912@sss.pgh.pa.us>
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