Received: from localhost (unknown [200.46.204.183]) by developer.postgresql.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id DBA652E0092 for ; Mon, 2 Jun 2008 13:22:45 -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 35509-02 for ; Mon, 2 Jun 2008 13:22:31 -0300 (ADT) X-Greylist: from auto-whitelisted by SQLgrey-1.7.6 Received: from westnet.com (westnet.com [216.187.52.2]) by developer.postgresql.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 753F52E003B for ; Mon, 2 Jun 2008 13:22:32 -0300 (ADT) Received: from westnet.com (localhost [127.0.0.1]) by westnet.com (8.14.0/8.14.0) with ESMTP id m52GMMrH025923; Mon, 2 Jun 2008 12:22:22 -0400 (EDT) Received: from localhost (gsmith@localhost) by westnet.com (8.14.0/8.13.2/Submit) with ESMTP id m52GMLOj025918; Mon, 2 Jun 2008 12:22:21 -0400 (EDT) X-Authentication-Warning: westnet.com: gsmith owned process doing -bs Date: Mon, 2 Jun 2008 12:22:21 -0400 (EDT) From: Greg Smith X-X-Sender: gsmith@westnet.com To: Tom Lane cc: Peter Eisentraut , pgsql-hackers@postgresql.org, Josh Berkus Subject: Re: Overhauling GUCS In-Reply-To: <17932.1212415926@sss.pgh.pa.us> Message-ID: References: <48409D1E.3070208@agliodbs.com> <200806010032.53337.peter_e@gmx.net> <17932.1212415926@sss.pgh.pa.us> MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII; format=flowed X-Virus-Scanned: Maia Mailguard 1.0.1 X-Archive-Number: 200806/60 X-Sequence-Number: 119173 On Mon, 2 Jun 2008, Tom Lane wrote: > Greg Smith writes: >> Joshua has been banging a drum for a while now that all this data needs to >> get pushing into the database itself. > > This is, very simply, not going to happen. Right, there are also technical challenges in the way of that ideal. I was only mentioning the reasons why it might not be the best idea even if it were feasible. However, I do not see why the limitations you bring up must get in the way of thinking about how to interact and manage the configuration data in a database context, even though it ultimately must be imported and exported to a flat file. The concerns you bring up again about leaving the database in an unstartable state are a particularly real danger in the "only has access to 5432" hosted provider case that this redesign is trying to satisfy. I added a "Gotchas" section to the wiki page so that this issue doesn't get forgotten about. The standard way to handle this situation is to have a known good backup configuration floating around. Adding something in that area may end up being a hard requirement before remote editing makes sense. -- * Greg Smith gsmith@gregsmith.com http://www.gregsmith.com Baltimore, MD