Put a tad more detail in the discussion of postmaster and postgres

signal handling.

diff --git a/doc/src/sgml/ref/postgres-ref.sgml b/doc/src/sgml/ref/postgres-ref.sgml
index 9c961492a9e40a36b7844b1c845d1dfb0056cc00..b80c9caafac0b55f49cec418849b4b34c4494a4a 100644 (file)
--- a/doc/src/sgml/ref/postgres-ref.sgml
+++ b/doc/src/sgml/ref/postgres-ref.sgml
@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
 
 
@@ -365,13 +365,29 @@ PostgreSQL documentation
   Notes
 
   
-   To stop a running query use the SIGINT signal. To
-   tell postgres to reread the configuration file,
-   use a SIGHUP signal. The
-   postmaster uses SIGTERM
+   To cancel a running query, send the SIGINT signal
+   to the postgres process running that command.
+  
+
+  
+   To tell postgres to reread the configuration file,
+   send a SIGHUP signal.  Normally it's best to
+   SIGHUP the postmaster instead;
+   the postmaster will in turn SIGHUP
+   each of its children.  But in some cases it might be desirable to have only
+   one postgres process reread the configuration file.
+  
+
+  
+   The postmaster uses SIGTERM
    to tell a postgres process to quit normally and
    SIGQUIT to terminate without the normal cleanup.
-   These should not be used by users.
+   These signals should not be used by users.  It is also
+   unwise to send SIGKILL to a postgres
+   process --- the postmaster will interpret this as
+   a crash in postgres, and will force all the sibling
+   postgres processes to quit as part of its standard
+   crash-recovery procedure.
   
 
  

diff --git a/doc/src/sgml/ref/postmaster.sgml b/doc/src/sgml/ref/postmaster.sgml
index 77aecf70310fc2b5f112d8268d28820059ae7585..f4ec3c98986e5e38b52333574edc7f414ab03721 100644 (file)
--- a/doc/src/sgml/ref/postmaster.sgml
+++ b/doc/src/sgml/ref/postmaster.sgml
@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
 
 
@@ -473,10 +473,11 @@ PostgreSQL documentation
   
    If at all possible, do not use
    SIGKILL to kill the
-   postmaster.  This will prevent
+   postmaster.  Doing so will prevent
    postmaster from freeing the system
    resources (e.g., shared memory and semaphores) that it holds before
-   terminating.
+   terminating.  This may cause problems for starting a fresh
+   postmaster run.