Peter,
One frequent source of confusion are the different units that the parameters
in postgresql.conf use. shared_buffers is in 8 kB, work_mem is in 1 kB;
bgwriter_delay is in milliseconds, checkpoint_warning is in seconds.
Obviously, we can't change that without inconveniencing a lot of users.
I think it would be useful to allow units to be added to these settings, for
example
shared_buffers = 1000kB
checkpoint_warning = 30s
This would also allow
shared_buffers = 512MB
which is a bit cumbersome to calculate right now (you'd need = 65536).
I haven't thought yet how to parse or implement this, but would people find
this useful?
Well, it's on my TODO list for 8.2 to write a simple postgresql.conf
conversion utility in Perl. If you wanted to make a change like that,
it would make finishing that mandatory.
Just as well, right now half the vacuum settings are in a different
section than another half.
--Josh
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