Re: Simple postgresql.conf wizard

On Thu, 4 Dec 2008, Robert Haas wrote:

> Just let's please change it both places, rather than letting
> contrib/pgtune be a backdoor to get around not liking what initdb does.
> And similarly with the other parameters...

Someone running pgtune has specifically asked for their database to be
tuned for performance; someone running initdb has not. It's not a
backdoor, the defaults for a tuned small system and what comes out of
initdb have completely different priorities. The linking of the two that
keeps happening in this thread makes no sense to me, and frankly I
consider the whole topic an off-topic distraction.

I never had any intention of making changes to the basic configuration
that comes out of initdb, the burden of proof for making a change there is
far higher than I feel justified in clearing. The last time I got an
initdb setting changed I had days worth of focused test data to present
with the suggestion.

If I take a poll of half a dozen experienced PostgreSQL administrators
with performance tuning background (which is basically where the pgtune
settings are coming from) and I hear the same story about a setting from
most of them, that's good enough for me to justify a settings change for
this tool; the whole idea is to pool expert opinion and try to distill it
into code. But that's not good enough for changing that setting for
everybody who installs the database.

--
* Greg Smith gsmith(at)gregsmith(dot)com http://www.gregsmith.com Baltimore, MD