...
> 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.
- Thomas