"Raymond O'Donnell" <rod@xxxxxx> writes: > If I want to get dates in the European format, what's the difference > between (a) including -o -e on the postmaster command line and (b) > uncommenting datestyle='iso,dmy' in postgresql.conf? > If there's no difference, which is the preferred/recommended method? Command-line switches are mostly useful for quick-and-dirty manual starts of the postmaster; which is something people do for testing purposes, but certainly not in production environments. In a production environment you should almost always edit postgresql.conf, for these reasons: 1. The postgresql.conf file allows better documentation of what you did. 2. To insert a command-line switch, you probably have to modify the postmaster-launching script, which means you risk losing the change during software updates. 3. Command-line switches override postgresql.conf entries, which means it'll be impossible to change your mind later by editing postgresql.conf and SIGHUP'ing; only a postmaster shutdown and restart can fix it if you change your mind about something specified on the command line. (Of course, this doesn't carry any weight for stuff that requires a restart to change anyway, such as shared_buffers; but for stuff that can be changed without a restart, such as the default datestyle, I think it's foolish to foreclose the option.) regards, tom lane ---------------------------(end of broadcast)--------------------------- TIP 6: explain analyze is your friend
