How to syntax check PostgreSQL config files?

Question

I am often editing the pg_hda.conf file and I was just wondering if there is a way to make sure that what I just wrote is correct.

So far I'm using a test server to check my changes.

Like Apache has its apache2ctl -t command, does Postgres has something similar?

Answer 1

It's bee a long time, but now check is available for pg_hba.conf file:

select pg_hba_file_rules(); 

Also, you may use pg_file_settings view to define error in postgresql.conf:

select sourcefile, name,sourceline,error from pg_file_settings where error is not null; 

example output:

postgres=# select sourcefile, name,sourceline,error from pg_file_settings where error is not null;                sourcefile               |  name  | sourceline |                error ----------------------------------------+--------+------------+--------------------------------------  /var/lib/pgsql/11/data/postgresql.conf | lalala |          1 | unrecognized configuration parameter 

here I put some bad stuff to check if it's true :)