Received: from localhost (unknown [200.46.204.183]) by developer.postgresql.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id C92062E0031 for ; Wed, 4 Jun 2008 21:29:47 -0300 (ADT) Received: from developer.postgresql.org ([200.46.204.71]) by localhost (mx1.hub.org [200.46.204.183]) (amavisd-maia, port 10024) with ESMTP id 10001-03-3 for ; Wed, 4 Jun 2008 21:29:19 -0300 (ADT) X-Greylist: from auto-whitelisted by SQLgrey-1.7.6 Received: from sss.pgh.pa.us (sss.pgh.pa.us [66.207.139.130]) by developer.postgresql.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id B63EE2E0070 for ; Wed, 4 Jun 2008 21:15:13 -0300 (ADT) Received: from sss2.sss.pgh.pa.us (tgl@localhost [127.0.0.1]) by sss.pgh.pa.us (8.14.2/8.14.2) with ESMTP id m550FCmJ007396; Wed, 4 Jun 2008 20:15:12 -0400 (EDT) To: Andreas Pflug cc: pgsql-hackers@postgresql.org Subject: Re: Overhauling GUCS In-reply-to: <48472D26.8040408@pse-consulting.de> References: <48409D1E.3070208@agliodbs.com> <200806010032.53337.peter_e@gmx.net> <17932.1212415926@sss.pgh.pa.us> <20080604131810.GH65238@decibel.org> <4846A483.8000001@pse-consulting.de> <29525.1212613052@sss.pgh.pa.us> <48472D26.8040408@pse-consulting.de> Comments: In-reply-to Andreas Pflug message dated "Thu, 05 Jun 2008 02:02:46 +0200" Date: Wed, 04 Jun 2008 20:15:12 -0400 Message-ID: <7395.1212624912@sss.pgh.pa.us> From: Tom Lane X-Virus-Scanned: Maia Mailguard 1.0.1 X-Archive-Number: 200806/196 X-Sequence-Number: 119309 Andreas Pflug 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