Here is a scenario: ./configure --prefix=/usr/local/pgsql/9.4.1 make make install ln -s 9.4.1 /usr/local/pgsql/9.4 PATH=/usr/local/pgsql/9.4/bin:$PATH
And then when 9.4.2 comes out, the symlink is updated. I think this sort of setup in variations is not uncommon. When building other software against that installation, it would use pg_config --includedir, pg_config --libdir, etc., but that points to /usr/local/pgsql/9.4.1/lib instead of /usr/local/pgsql/9.4/lib, because find_my_exec() goes out of its way to resolve symlinks in the returned path. If the other software saves an rpath or the bindir or something during the build, then if I later clear out the old 9.4.1 installation, the other software will break. The reason for this behavior is commit 336969e490d71c316a42fabeccda87f798e562dd Author: Tom Lane <t...@sss.pgh.pa.us> Date: Sat Nov 6 23:06:29 2004 +0000 Add code to find_my_exec() to resolve a symbolic link down to the actual executable location. This allows people to continue to use setups where, eg, postmaster is symlinked from a convenient place. Per gripe from Josh Berkus. I don't quite understand what setup Josh was using there. Is there a way we can consolidate these situations? -- Sent via pgsql-hackers mailing list (pgsql-hackers@postgresql.org) To make changes to your subscription: http://www.postgresql.org/mailpref/pgsql-hackers