Thomas Lockhart wrote:
> ...
> > I was just wondering why we would deal with environment variables or
> > postgresql.conf settings. Just make it an initdb flag, create it in the
> > desired location with a symlink in /data and then we don't have to do
> > any more work for WAL locations unless people want to move it around
> > after then initdb'ed, in which case they have to do it manually.
>
> Well, I have the same reaction to symlinks as some others might have to
> environment variables ;) Symlinks are inherently evil for determining
> fundamental properties of our database, and inherently evil for
> determining locations of files within our database.
>
> They don't scale, they are not portable, and it is difficult for
> applications (like the Postgres backend) to know that they are dealing
> with a simlink or a real file.
OK, I understand now, though I personally like symlinks. At least I
understand your point of view.
From my perspective, I think they are portable, they do scale unless you
are talking about tons of symlinks, which we aren't, and I don't think
PostgreSQL has to care whether they are symlinks or not.
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