Re: Re-ordering .CONF params ... questions for this list

Josh- I took a quick look at your proposal on conf ordering-

The groupings are great.

Without a clear notion of dependencies, and only based on what I think
people are likely to tweak the most, I'd suggest promoting the "client
connection defaults", "version/platform compatibility" & "logging/debugging"
groups to positions 2,3 & 4 respectively.

Here's the thinking-

You'd have all of the options that a neophyte might need to set to perform a
particular task in a given environment in the first three groups. Problems
encountered while setting these up might require the adventurous beginner to
dip into logging/debugging to gather basic diagnostic info.

With this ordering, everything you might have to touch in order to get a
basic system up & running lives in the top 4 groups. (This also helps soften
the dilemma of where enable_implicit_from should go by putting the two
possible groups next to one another.)

Below the top four groups are the tuning parameters best not messed with
until one passes from neophyte to DB-Geek level. (And probably not worth
messing with even then.) These are only needed when you've passed over from
getting it running to needing it to run better.

-Nick



> -----Original Message-----
> From: pgsql-performance-owner@postgresql.org
> [mailto:pgsql-performance-owner@postgresql.org]On Behalf Of Josh Berkus
> Sent: Tuesday, June 10, 2003 1:02 PM
> To: pgsql-performance@postgresql.org
> Subject: [PERFORM] Re-ordering .CONF params ... questions for this list
>
>
> Folks,
>
> We've been discussing this for a while on HACKERS.  However, I
> haven't been
> getting much feedback on the specific order proposed.
>
> Attached is an outline of my proposed re-ordering of
> postgresql.conf.sample.
> Please send me comments.  I need to submit a patch by Thursday,
> so don't take
> too long.
>
> This is an effort to make the order of run-time params in
> postgresql.conf.sample and in the docs more logical and less
> baffling to the
> new DBA.
>
> Questions:
> 1) Should "enable_implicit_from" go in the "Version/Platform
> Compatibility"
> section where I have it now, or in "CLIENT CONNECTIONS-Statement
> Behavior",
> or somewhere else?
>
> 2) Where should "preload_libraries" go?   I'm very reluctant to start a
> "Misc." section.  Perhaps I should start a "LIBRARIES" section?
>
> 3) I have re-ordered each subsection somewhat.   The fixed
> ordering is based
> on:
>         a) My guess at the frequency with which that option will
> be changed,
> with more common options toward the top of the subsection;
>         b) Grouping for tightly related options and for options
> that cascade;
>         c) where (a) and (b) are unclear, alpha order.
> Does this order make sense looking at the file?
>
> 3) Should we use indenting in PostgreSQL.conf.sample?   I tend to
> think it
> would make the file easier to read, but I'm not sure what effect it would
> have, if any, on parsing the file and whether other people would
> find it easy
> to read.
>
>
>
> --
> -Josh Berkus
>  Aglio Database Solutions
>  San Francisco
>