Re: [COMMITTERS] pgsql-server/src backend/tcop/postgres.cbacke

On Tue, 13 Aug 2002, scott.marlowe wrote:

> My non-coding vote goes with Tom Lane on this. initdb can set pg_xlog,
> and if you need to change it, use symlinks.

I've not been following this thread, and thus I suppose I missed
my opportunity to vote, but just for the record I'm with the "don't
use an environment variable" crowd here, too. It's way, way to easy
to start up with the wrong setting in your environment.

The log is part of the database. Therefore you should store the
information on its location along with the rest of the database
information. The idea is, you pass *one* piece of information to your
program when you start it (in this case the database data directory
location), and all of the rest of the information comes from there. Then
you have guaranteed consistency.

How the log location is stored within that area, I'm not so fussy
about. If a symlink is so terrible, why not put this information
in the database config file?

Oh, and yes, it does need to be changable after an initdb. Say you
start out with only one disk on your system, but add a second disk
later, and want to move the log to that?

cjs
--
Curt Sampson <cjs(at)cynic(dot)net> +81 90 7737 2974 http://www.netbsd.org
Don't you know, in this new Dark Age, we're all light. --XTC