Re: BUG #4787: Hardlink (ln) causes startup failure with bizarre "timezone_abbreviations" error

-----Original Message-----
From: pgsql-bugs-owner(at)postgresql(dot)org
[mailto:pgsql-bugs-owner(at)postgresql(dot)org] On Behalf Of Tom Lane
Sent: vrijdag 1 mei 2009 17:46
To: Mark Kramer
Cc: pgsql-bugs(at)postgresql(dot)org
Subject: Re: [BUGS] BUG #4787: Hardlink (ln) causes startup failure with
bizarre "timezone_abbreviations" error

"Mark Kramer" <root(at)asarian-host(dot)net> writes:

> > I have my PostgreSQL installed in /usr/local/PostgreSQL/ (cleaner for
> > updates, instead of just /usr/local) As a result, I made hard-links
> > like this,

> > cd /usr/local/bin/
> > ln /usr/local/PostgreSQL/bin/pg_ctl pg_ctl

> This isn't going to work because pg_ctl assumes it can find postgres in
> the same directory it is in. Try using a symlink instead. (It'll be
> less likely to fail miserably after an upgrade, too.)

I tried a symlink as well. Then pg_ctl *can* start the server (which is
kinda odd, by itself, that it can do so now, whereas not with a hardlink;
unless pg_ctl actually reads the symlink content, which is very unlikely),
but it reports a spurious error nonetheless: "could not start server"
(whilst it DOES start the server just fine).

As for pg_ctl assuming it can find postgres in the same directory it is
in, it SHOULD. :) Basically, I hard-linked all files in
/usr/local/PostgreSQL/bin/ to /usr/local/bin/. So, even when pg_ctl got
started from /usr/local/bin/, it should have found /usr/local/bin/postgres
right under its very nose! Also, the error message actually DOES seem to
come from postgres (postgres[9742]: [6-1] FATAL), but that may well be an
optical illusion on my end (as pg_ctl could log as 'postgres' too: haven't
examined that yet).

Clearly, seems PostgreSQL just really wants to be started from its
original install-location.

> > I get this error, though:
> > May 1 04:40:26 asarian-host postgres[9742]: [6-1] FATAL: invalid
> > value for parameter "timezone_abbreviations": "Default"

> I agree this is an odd error message though. Perhaps you hardlinked a
> few other things you didn't tell us about? I'm not sure what it would
> take to make this be the first complaint. What is probably happening is
> that postgres is trying to find /usr/local/PostgreSQL/share/ relative
> to itself, but I'd have thought it would notice the problem sooner.

The /share/ thingy is what I strongly suspected too; but since the bug
report FAQ strongly discourages one from writing your assumptions about
what you *think* might be the issue, I refrained from mentioning it. :)
But yes, that seems like a logical place to look.

- Mark