Re: ALTER SYSTEM vs symlink

Andrew Dunstan <andrew@dunslane.net> writes:
> I don't know if this was discussed at the time ALTER SYSTEM was 
> implemented, but I have just discovered that if postgresql.auto.conf is 
> a symlink to a file elsewhere, ALTER SYSTEM will happily break that link 
> and write its own local copy. That strikes me as rather unfriendly. Why 
> not just truncate the file rather than unlink it as it's being 
> rewritten? Even if we don't want to do that a warning in the docs might 
> help users avoid the "mistake" I just made.

Frankly, that behavior strikes me as a good idea.  There is no situation,
IMV, where it's sane to try to put a symlink there.
        regards, tom lane