PostgreSQL stupidity

You can find manuals how to configure postgresql.conf or pg_hba.conf but where to find those files ? No word about configuration files locations... stupidity...

OS: Linux PostgreSQL 8.4 installed from Ubuntu repos

From serverfault $pageUsers[$entry.posts[0].author].name

• Looking for "pg_hba.conf ubuntu" on Google gives you

  https://help.ubuntu.com/community/PostgreSQL

  which shows the location of the files.

  The documentation states the following:

  Client authentication is controlled by a configuration file, which traditionally is named pg_hba.conf and is stored in the database cluster's data directory. (HBA stands for host-based authentication.) A default pg_hba.conf file is installed when the data directory is initialized by initdb. It is possible to place the authentication configuration file elsewhere, however; see the hba_file configuration parameter.

  Note it says stored in the database cluster's data directory and that it's possible to place it elsewhere, via a configuration parameter. Official documentation cannot point you to a specific folder because the actual location depends on both how the OS maker and the machine's administrator have set PostgreSQL up. Remember PostgreSQL supports a lot of different operating systems (and Linux distributions.)

  Also, two tips:

  1. locate will help you find files you know the name of but not the location
  2. Debian based distributions place under /usr/share/doc documentation on how they set up different packages by default, I'm sure you'll find under /usr/share/doc/postgresql-8.4 (or maybe just postgresql) info about the configuration files. Very useful to read in case they have modified some standard behavior.
  From Vinko Vrsalovic

• As Vinko said, the location is distribution-dependent. To add to his answer:

  Your package management sofware will tell you where are the files installed by each package, (for example: dpkg -L postgresql).

  You can also look inside the service startup script ( typically /etc/init.d/postgresql)

  From leonbloy

• http://www.postgresql.org/docs/current/static/runtime-config-file-locations.html

  From Milen A. Radev