20.15. Preset Options

The following " parameters " are read-only. As such, they have been excluded from the sample postgresql.conf file. These options report various aspects of PostgreSQL behavior that might be of interest to certain applications, particularly administrative front-ends. Most of them are determined when PostgreSQL is compiled or when it is installed.

block_size ( integer )

Reports the size of a disk block. It is determined by the value of BLCKSZ when building the server. The default value is 8192 bytes. The meaning of some configuration variables (such as shared_buffers ) is influenced by block_size . See Section 20.4 for information.

data_checksums ( boolean )

Reports whether data checksums are enabled for this cluster. See data checksums for more information.

data_directory_mode ( integer )

On Unix systems this parameter reports the permissions the data directory (defined by data_directory ) had at server startup. (On Microsoft Windows this parameter will always display 0700 .) See group access for more information.

debug_assertions ( boolean )

Reports whether PostgreSQL has been built with assertions enabled. That is the case if the macro USE_ASSERT_CHECKING is defined when PostgreSQL is built (accomplished e.g., by the configure option --enable-cassert ). By default PostgreSQL is built without assertions.

integer_datetimes ( boolean )

Reports whether PostgreSQL was built with support for 64-bit-integer dates and times. As of PostgreSQL 10, this is always on .

in_hot_standby ( boolean )

Reports whether the server is currently in hot standby mode. When this is on , all transactions are forced to be read-only. Within a session, this can change only if the server is promoted to be primary. See Section 27.4 for more information.

lc_collate ( string )

Reports the locale in which sorting of textual data is done. See Section 24.1 for more information. This value is determined when a database is created.

lc_ctype ( string )

Reports the locale that determines character classifications. See Section 24.1 for more information. This value is determined when a database is created. Ordinarily this will be the same as lc_collate , but for special applications it might be set differently.

max_function_args ( integer )

Reports the maximum number of function arguments. It is determined by the value of FUNC_MAX_ARGS when building the server. The default value is 100 arguments.

max_identifier_length ( integer )

Reports the maximum identifier length. It is determined as one less than the value of NAMEDATALEN when building the server. The default value of NAMEDATALEN is 64; therefore the default max_identifier_length is 63 bytes, which can be less than 63 characters when using multibyte encodings.

max_index_keys ( integer )

Reports the maximum number of index keys. It is determined by the value of INDEX_MAX_KEYS when building the server. The default value is 32 keys.

segment_size ( integer )

Reports the number of blocks (pages) that can be stored within a file segment. It is determined by the value of RELSEG_SIZE when building the server. The maximum size of a segment file in bytes is equal to segment_size multiplied by block_size ; by default this is 1GB.

server_encoding ( string )

Reports the database encoding (character set). It is determined when the database is created. Ordinarily, clients need only be concerned with the value of client_encoding .

server_version ( string )

Reports the version number of the server. It is determined by the value of PG_VERSION when building the server.

server_version_num ( integer )

Reports the version number of the server as an integer. It is determined by the value of PG_VERSION_NUM when building the server.

ssl_library ( string )

Reports the name of the SSL library that this PostgreSQL server was built with (even if SSL is not currently configured or in use on this instance), for example OpenSSL , or an empty string if none.

wal_block_size ( integer )

Reports the size of a WAL disk block. It is determined by the value of XLOG_BLCKSZ when building the server. The default value is 8192 bytes.

wal_segment_size ( integer )

Reports the size of write ahead log segments. The default value is 16MB. See Section 30.5 for more information.