Re: Exposing an installation's default value of unix_socket_directory

"A.M." <agentm(at)themactionfaction(dot)com> writes:
> On Oct 21, 2010, at 4:19 PM, Robert Haas wrote:
>> I think adding this to pg_config is sensible. Sure, the user could
>> have moved the socket directory. But it's a place to start looking.
>> So why not?

> Because pg_config is supposed to return the current state of a cluster?

pg_config is not supposed to do any such thing. It exists specifically
and solely to tell you about build options that were baked into the
compiled code.

Actually, the only reason this is even up for discussion is that there's
no configure option to set DEFAULT_PGSOCKET_DIR. If there were, and
debian were using it, then pg_config --configure would tell what I wish
to know. I thought for a bit about proposing we add such an option,
but given the current state of play it might be more misleading than
helpful: as long as distros are accustomed to changing this setting via
a patch, you couldn't trust pg_config --configure to tell you what a
given installation actually has compiled into it.

regards, tom lane