Re: pg_ctl only allows 12 parameters?

On Mon, Dec 18, 2023 at 10:11 AM David G. Johnston <
david(dot)g(dot)johnston(at)gmail(dot)com> wrote:

> On Monday, December 18, 2023, Ron Johnson <ronljohnsonjr(at)gmail(dot)com> wrote:
>
>> PG 14.10
>>
>> pg_ctl failed when I added a thirteenth parameter (log_temp_files). Is
>> this documented, and I missed it?
>>
>> (The purpose is to optimize for a 30-thread pg_restore of a multi-TB 9.6
>> database. Once it's finished, I stop/start, to enable "production" values
>> like fsync=on.)
>>
>> pg_ctl restart -wt999 -mfast
>> -o '-c fsync=off' \
>> -o '-c full_page_writes=off' \
>> -o '-c log_statement=none' \
>> -o '-c log_temp_files=100kB' \
>> -o '-c max_wal_size=36GB' \
>> -o '-c wal_level=minimal' \
>> -o '-c max_wal_senders=0' \
>> -o '-c wal_buffers=64MB' \
>> -o '-c log_checkpoints=off' \
>> -o '-c autovacuum=off'
>> pg_ctl: too many command-line arguments (first is "restart")
>>
>
> Arguments are not parameters. Try putting the restart argument after all
> parameters.
>

Quite irritating. "pg_ctl restart" instantly tells you what it's doing.

And still, why the limitation?

> Also, you are missing a line continuation backslash so you actually only
> supplied three arguments, where only 1 is accepted.
>

The missing backslash is a legacy of reformatting it for email.