Re: pg_ctl start may return 0 even if the postmaster has been already started on Windows

On Sat, Jun 29, 2024 at 07:12:11PM -0700, Noah Misch wrote:
> Commits 9886744 and b83747a added /D to two %comspec% callers. I gather they
> arose to make particular cmd.exe invocations have just one child. However,
> http://postgr.es/m/20240111.173322.1809044112677090191.horikyota.ntt@gmail.com
> reports multiple children remain possible. v17 is currently in a weird state
> where most Windows subprocess invocation routes through pgwin32_system() and
> does not add /D, while these two callers add /D. I suspect we should either
> (1) prepend /D in pgwin32_system() and other %comspec% usage or (2) revert
> prepending it in the callers from this thread's commits. While
> "Software\Microsoft\Command Processor\AutoRun" is hard to use without breaking
> things, it's not PostgreSQL's job to second-guess the user in that respect.
> Hence, I lean toward (2). What do you think?

Thanks for the ping.

As of this stage of the game for v17, I am going to agree with (2) to
remove this inconsistency rather than experiment with new things. We
could always study more in v18 what could be done with the /D switches
and the other patch, though that will unlikely be something I'll be
able to look at in the short term.
--
Michael