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Should PostgreSQL servers be stopped when user logs out? #834

@jakob

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@jakob

Currently PostgreSQL servers continue running after the user logs out. This was not an intentional decision, it's something that we haven't really thought about.

Since Postgres.app requires a logged in user to start, this fact is somewhat counter-intuitive.

This fact can cause issues when:

  • user logs out, logs in as a different user, then can't start a PostgreSQL server because one is already running
  • user logs out, then logs in again, either as same or different user. Permission dialogs can't be shown because original GUI session is no longer available

At the same time, people may rely on this fact. Maybe some people switch users but still want to connect to the PostgreSQL server owned by another user.

If we decide that PostgreSQL servers should shut down when the user logs out, I'm not sure how this should be implemented. The most straightforward way would be to have the menu helper app shut down servers when macOS quits it during logout. But there is no guarantee that the menu helper is running -- people may have turned the menu helper off. I am not sure what to do in that case.

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