Re: [patch] GUC source file and line number]

Greg Smith <gsmith(at)gregsmith(dot)com> writes:
> First question--how about if I changed that description to read:

> "Default value used at server startup if the parameter is not explicitly
> set"?

"... not otherwise set" would probably be an accurate phrasing.
(I'm thinking of corner cases like stuff absorbed from environment
variables, which aren't really "explicitly" set by any normal usage
of that term.)

> I could then expose reset-val, named like that and with a description that
> explained the context it applies in. And then we've give people a way to
> experiment and understand the FAQ of "why didn't the value go back to the
> default when I commented it out of the postgresql.conf and HUP'd the
> server?".

You do know that's an ex-FAQ as of 8.3? If we're designing this feature
to respond to that, we are wasting a lot of effort.

> About once a month, somebody asks me "how can I tell what the default is
> for *X*?"

I wonder how certain you can be of which meaning of "default" they have
in mind. I don't think it means the same thing to everybody that it
means to you.

regards, tom lane