All, pg_ctl -D means different things depending on whether you are calling "start" or "stop". For "start", pg_ctl wants the directory postgresql.conf is in, and for "stop" it wants the directory postmaster.pid is in. This means that if your .conf files are not in the same directory as data_directory, you have to write special-case code for start and stop.
Given that having the .conf files in /etc is the default configuration for both Red Hat and Debian, this seems like really poor UI design on our part. Also, it makes the "data_directory" parameter somewhat disingenous, because effectively that parameter doesn't work all the time. It actually seems relatively easy to fix this without breaking backwards-compatibility. We should add this logic to "pg_ctl stop": 1) if postmaster.pid is in -D, shut down that pid. 2) if postmaster.pid is not in -D, look for postgresql.conf 3) if postgresql.conf is found, look in data_directory for postmaster.pid This would end the pg_ctl breakage on our most popular platforms, while not changing any functionality for those already installed. Objections? -- Josh Berkus PostgreSQL Experts Inc. http://pgexperts.com -- Sent via pgsql-hackers mailing list (pgsql-hackers@postgresql.org) To make changes to your subscription: http://www.postgresql.org/mailpref/pgsql-hackers
