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I've seen some PostgreSQL extension examples that use the .control file to provide defaults for the extension's settings. This seems to be a remnant from a time in which extension settings had to be provided in the .control file for them to be valid to Postgres at all. My question is: Has putting the extension settings in the .control file ever been a required or recommended practice?

I don't see anything in the current pg_extension or pg_available_extension_versions catalogs that would suggest such a practice.

Edit 2022-01-08: My question wasn't sufficiently clear. I was specifically talking above about run-time configuration settings (such as can be set and get via current_setting() and set_config()). I was not referring to control file parameters, which are neatly described in the official documentation.

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You didn't look at the PostgreSQL documentation. You need a .control file for an extension:

The CREATE EXTENSION command relies on a control file for each extension, which must be named the same as the extension with a suffix of .control, and must be placed in the installation's SHAREDIR/extension directory.

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  • I apologize. My question was insufficiently clear. I was not talking about control file parameters, as you linked to, but to run-time configuration settings. I've edited my question to be more clear. To salvage my ego: I did read the documentation, enough so that my public PL/pgSQL extension count is 7 (all of them with a .control file 😉): pgxn.org/user/bigsmoke
    – BigSmoke
    Jan 8 at 17:30
  • I don't think that a parameter can be permanently set in a control file (other than with ALTER DATABASE). Could you edit the question and show an example of what you mean?
    – Laurenz Albe
    Jan 9 at 5:13
  • I since found out that my question was crappy to begin with and answered it myself.
    – BigSmoke
    Jan 9 at 17:52
  • By the way: my question was not about this, but if you ever find yourself wanting to treat DB (role) settings as unalterable, my pg_safer_settings extension has a pg_db_setting(text, regrole) function as an example of how to do precisely this.
    – BigSmoke
    Jan 9 at 17:55
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As the adage goes, “a couple of years in the laboratory can often save a few hours in the library”. But, when it comes to programming, wasting my own and others' time on stackexchange.com can often save a 5-minute experiment.

I ran the experiment. It is not even possible to add settings of the type extension_name.setting_name to the .control file. I don't know where I picked up the impression that this was ever possible. I must have mismatched some different fragments of the documentation in my head at some point.

Anyhow, apologies for wasting the time of those who paid attention to my crappy question, @laurenz-albe in particular.

Worst thing: after running the experiment, I finally did recall that I already ran the experiment once before. 🤦‍♂️

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