Re: PostgreSQL pollutes the file system

Andres Freund <andres(at)anarazel(dot)de> writes:
> On 2019-03-29 11:41:26 -0400, Tom Lane wrote:
>> Or perhaps better, allow pg_ctl to grow new subcommands for those
>> tasks?

> We'd need to be careful to somehow delineate commands that need access
> to the data directory / run locally on the server from the ones that
> just needs a client connection.

Hmm, that's a good point: to put it in terms that make sense to a
packager, it'd no longer be clear whether pg_ctl belongs in the
server package or the client package.

I'm still not thrilled with wedging in these things as options
to psql though: its command line semantics are overly complicated
already, when you consider things like multiple -c and -f options.
I mean, somebody might think it's a feature to be able to do

psql --createuser alice --createuser bob -c 'some command' -f somefile

but I don't.

Maybe if we want to merge these things into one executable,
it should be a new one. "pg_util createrole bob" ?

regards, tom lane