Database directory names

I'm in the final stages of setting up database access for our domain
hosting customers. The current system is running PostgreSQL 7.0- with
which I haven't met any major problems (other than trying to figure out
how to restrict access to each domain's database- solved).

However... That box is slated for some major hardware upgrades, and an
update from RedHat 7.0 to 7.3- bringing Postgres up to 7.2. This is not
in and of itself a problem... but one particular attribute of 7.2 has
me very puzzled and concerned.

In 7.0, each database resided in /var/lib/pgsql/data/base/{database
name}. This appears to have changed in 7.2 to an indecipherable number,
with no apparent relation to the database name.

I've spent a little time playing with
CREATE DATABASE dbname WITH LOCATION = 'dbpath';
but it doesn't really suit my needs; I don't want to specify where the
base/ directory goes! I don't need to. I do want to be able to easily
track disk usage on a per-database basis- and while I could just make
note of the directory created when a database is created, it would be
*much* simpler to automate information-generating scripts based on the
database name directly. (Nor do I want to hassle with trying to get
appropriate environment variables set for the postmaster; I *really*
don't want to have to modify the init script.)

Is this a feature, a bug, or a change related to some other critical
functional capability of Postgres? I haven't found anything else that
meets our requirements here, and I can work around this annoyance if
required- but I'd rather be lazy. ;)

-Kris
WebHart Internet Linux Sysadmin