RAJAMOHAN <garajamohan(at)gmail(dot)com> writes:
> I am trying to keep a symbolic link for the *postgresql.auto.conf* outside
> the data directory. The link gets created but whenever I issue an alter
> system statement it gets broken.
This is not supported. Don't do it.
The right way to keep the hand-maintained config files outside the
data directory is not the way you've done it here, either. It might
accidentally work, but the preferred way is to put "data_directory =
whatever" in postgresql.conf and then start the postmaster with -D
pointing at where the config files are.
But in any case, postgresql.auto.conf is not hand-maintained; it
is part of the cluster data, so it belongs in the data directory.
regards, tom lane