On Sat, Mar 21, 2015 at 11:54:00AM -0400, Tom Lane wrote: > Stephen Frost <sfr...@snowman.net> writes: > > At the moment, one could look at our default postgresql.conf and the > > "turns forced synchronization on or off" and think it's something akin > > or somehow related to synchronous_commit (which is completely different, > > but the options are right next to each other..). > > > How about a big warning around fsync and make it more indepenent from > > the options around it? > > Yeah, the main SGML docs are reasonably clear about the risks of fsync, > but postgresql.conf doesn't give you any hint that it's dangerous. Now > I'm not entirely sure that people who frob postgresql.conf without having > read the docs can be saved from themselves, but we could do something > like this: > > # - Settings - > > #wal_level = minimal # minimal, archive, hot_standby, or > logical > # (change requires restart) > #fsync = on # turns forced synchronization on or off > + # (fsync=off is dangerous, read the > + # (manual before using it)
I think this will help people who find themselves in that file with few (or wrong) ideas of what this does. > #synchronous_commit = on # synchronization level; > # off, local, remote_write, or on > #wal_sync_method = fsync # the default is the first option > # supported by the operating system: > > Also, I think the short description "turns forced synchronization on or > off" could stand improvement; it really conveys zero information. Maybe > something like "force data to disk when committing"? > > Also, whatever we do here should be reflected into the description strings > in guc.c. I don't suppose there's a way to have a single point of truth... Cheers, David. -- David Fetter <da...@fetter.org> http://fetter.org/ Phone: +1 415 235 3778 AIM: dfetter666 Yahoo!: dfetter Skype: davidfetter XMPP: david.fet...@gmail.com Remember to vote! Consider donating to Postgres: http://www.postgresql.org/about/donate -- Sent via pgsql-hackers mailing list (pgsql-hackers@postgresql.org) To make changes to your subscription: http://www.postgresql.org/mailpref/pgsql-hackers
