David Steele <david@pgmasters.net> writes:
> On 5/12/21 3:21 PM, Alvaro Herrera wrote:
>> Why don't you use the PG_VERSION file in the datadir?
> Mostly because there is other data we need in pg_control and it is
> simpler to read one file than two.
I'm disinclined to change the longstanding rule in this area for
a reason as weak as that.
Even if we did change the rule going forward, you'd still need to
do it properly for existing releases, so I don't see that you're
going to save anything.
regards, tom lane