Re: BUG: postgresql.auto.conf location

On Wed, May 30, 2018 at 10:23 AM, Alexandr Blinov <alexandr(dot)blinov(at)mysky(dot)com
> wrote:

> Hello, team!
>
> I’m not sure if this is a bug or not, but the behavior of the postgresql
> server somewhat confusing.
>
> The postgresql server is started with following parameters:
> /usr/lib/postgresql/9.5/bin/postgres -D /var/lib/postgresql/9.5/main -c
> config_file=/etc/postgresql/9.5/main/postgresql.conf
> hba_file = '/etc/postgresql/9.5/main/pg_hba.conf'
> ident_file = '/etc/postgresql/9.5/main/pg_ident.conf'
>
> After that the following command is executed: ‘ALTER SYSTEM SET
> max_connections = xxx;’
>
> File postgresql.auto.conf is be created at ‘data’ directory, although
> this is expected in the same directory as the main postgresql.conf file.
>

The behavior described is intended.

For the reasons you note not every setting is a candidate to be set in this
manner in every situation.

ALTER SYSTEM SET, like ALTER ROLE SET and ALTER DATABASE SET before it,
persist its changes as data within the PGDATA directory. As far as I know
nothing you access via SQL will modify (in a controlled manner) the three
"files" that you can specify on the postgres command line. This seems
generally sufficient if not desirable.

David J.