Re: Can we avoid chdir'ing in resolve_symlinks() ?

On 13.09.22 17:16, Tom Lane wrote:
> Peter Eisentraut <peter(dot)eisentraut(at)enterprisedb(dot)com> writes:
>> 2) You configure and install with prefix=/usr/local/pgsql-14, and then
>> symlink /usr/local/pgsql -> /usr/local/pgsql-14; hoping that you can
>> then use /usr/local/pgsql as if that's where it actually is. We don't
>> currently support that. (Note that it would work if you made a copy of
>> the tree instead of using the symlink.)
>
> What about it does not work?

The problem is if another package or extension uses pg_config to find,
say, libdir, includedir, or bindir and integrates it into its own build
system or its own build products. If those directories point to
/usr/local/pgsql/{bin,include,lib}, then there is no problem. But if
they point to /usr/local/pgsql-14.5/{bin,include,lib}, then the next
minor update will break those other packages.