> While experimenting with this, I noted that the postmaster will not
> complain if postgresql.conf is not found --- though it will complain if
> it finds the file but can't read it (eg permission failures). It seems
> to me this is a bug, or at any rate a bad idea. There should be at least
> a warning message if the postgresql.conf file isn't found, and quite
> possibly the postmaster should refuse to start at all, on the grounds
> that you may have pointed it to a a bogus data directory.
>
> Any opinions about this out there?
I agree that there should at least be a warning if the file is not found.
Ironically, the problem in this case turned out to be the permissions, so
apparently the existing warning didn't clue one person into what was
happening until I made the suggestion about permissions more explicitly.
-Nick