GUC: adjust effective_cache_size docs and SQL description

bmomjian · bmomjian · commit 5463deb15f64 · 2018-11-02T09:11:00.000-04:00
Clarify that effective_cache_size is both kernel buffers and shared buffers. Reported-by: nat@makarevitch.org Discussion: https://postgr.es/m/153685164808.22334.15432535018443165207@wrigleys.postgresql.org Backpatch-through: 9.3
diff --git a/doc/src/sgml/config.sgml b/doc/src/sgml/config.sgml
@@ -3962,7 +3962,8 @@ ANY <replaceable class="parameter">num_sync</replaceable> ( <replaceable class="
         used. When setting this parameter you should consider both
         <productname>PostgreSQL</productname>'s shared buffers and the
         portion of the kernel's disk cache that will be used for
-        <productname>PostgreSQL</productname> data files.  Also, take
+        <productname>PostgreSQL</productname> data files, though some
+        data might exist in both places. Also, take
         into account the expected number of concurrent queries on different
         tables, since they will have to share the available
         space.  This parameter has no effect on the size of shared
diff --git a/src/backend/utils/misc/guc.c b/src/backend/utils/misc/guc.c
@@ -2803,10 +2803,9 @@ static struct config_int ConfigureNamesInt[] =
 
 	{
 		{"effective_cache_size", PGC_USERSET, QUERY_TUNING_COST,
-			gettext_noop("Sets the planner's assumption about the size of the disk cache."),
-			gettext_noop("That is, the portion of the kernel's disk cache that "
-						 "will be used for PostgreSQL data files. This is measured in disk "
-						 "pages, which are normally 8 kB each."),
+			gettext_noop("Sets the planner's assumption about the size of the data cache."),
+			gettext_noop("That is, the size of the cache used for PostgreSQL data files. "
+						 "This is measured in disk pages, which are normally 8 kB each."),
 			GUC_UNIT_BLOCKS,
 		},
 		&effective_cache_size,
