Re: pg_settings.pending_restart not set when line removed

Alvaro Herrera <alvherre(at)alvh(dot)no-ip(dot)org> writes:
> On 2021-Jul-27, Tom Lane wrote:
>> Ugh. I think this patch is likely to create more problems than it fixes.

> I doubt that; as I said, the code already behaves in exactly that way
> for closely related operations, so this patch isn't doing anything new.
> Note that that loop this code is modifying only applies to lines that
> are removed from the config file.

Ah ... what's wrong here is some combination of -ENOCAFFEINE and a
not-great explanation on your part. I misread the patch as adding
"error = true" rather than the flag change. I agree that setting
the GUC_PENDING_RESTART flag is fine, because set_config_option
would do so if we reached it. Perhaps you should comment this
along that line? Also, the cases inside set_config_option
uniformly set that flag *before* the ereport not after.
So maybe like

if (gconf->context < PGC_SIGHUP)
{
+ /* The removal can't be effective without a restart */
+ gconf->status |= GUC_PENDING_RESTART;
ereport(elevel,
(errcode(ERRCODE_CANT_CHANGE_RUNTIME_PARAM),

One thing worth checking is whether the pending-restart flag
gets cleared again if the DBA undoes the removal and again
reloads. I think the right thing will happen, but it'd be
worthwhile to check.

regards, tom lane