--- title: All Your GUCs in a Row: data_directory | daily.dev description: PostgreSQL's `data_directory` GUC names the location of the cluster's data directory ($PGDATA). It exists to solve a bootstrapping puzzle: when config files... canonical: https://daily.dev/posts/all-your-gucs-in-a-row-data-directory-nyewadaef twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:site: @dailydotdev og:type: website og:site_name: daily.dev og:title: All Your GUCs in a Row: data_directory | daily.dev og:description: PostgreSQL's `data_directory` GUC names the location of the cluster's data directory ($PGDATA). It exists to solve a bootstrapping puzzle: when config files... og:url: https://daily.dev/posts/all-your-gucs-in-a-row-data-directory-nyewadaef og:image: https://api.daily.dev/og/posts/nYEwaDAef.png og:image:alt: All Your GUCs in a Row: data_directory og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 630 og:locale: en --- > ## Documentation Index > Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://daily.dev/llms.txt > Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further. # All Your GUCs in a Row: data_directory **[Planet PostgreSQL](https://daily.dev/sources/planet-postgresql)** · 4 min read · 0 upvotes · 0 comments ## Summary PostgreSQL's `data_directory` GUC names the location of the cluster's data directory ($PGDATA). It exists to solve a bootstrapping puzzle: when config files are stored separately from data (as in Debian/Ubuntu packaging under /etc/postgresql), the `-D` flag points to the config directory while `data_directory` in postgresql.conf points to the actual data. This is why `data_directory` cannot be set via `ALTER SYSTEM` — that command writes to postgresql.auto.conf, which lives inside the data directory you'd be trying to locate. Companion parameters `config_file`, `hba_file`, and `ident_file` complete the split-config setup. For most users, no action is needed — distribution packaging handles this automatically. Use `SHOW data_directory` to find where your data actually lives. ## Full article daily.dev links to this article rather than hosting it. Read it at the original source: ## Similar posts on daily.dev - [All Your GUCs in a Row: config\_file](https://daily.dev/posts/all-your-gucs-in-a-row-config-file-53spmxdlx) · Planet PostgreSQL · 0 upvotes · 0 comments - [All Your GUCs in a Row: data\_directory\_mode](https://daily.dev/posts/all-your-gucs-in-a-row-data-directory-mode-bopbesycd) · Planet PostgreSQL · 0 upvotes · 0 comments - [All Your GUCs in a Row: external\_pid\_file](https://daily.dev/posts/all-your-gucs-in-a-row-external-pid-file-t7mm1hv7k) · Planet PostgreSQL · 0 upvotes · 0 comments --- Tags: [#postgresql](https://daily.dev/tags/postgresql) [View this post on daily.dev](https://daily.dev/posts/all-your-gucs-in-a-row-data-directory-nyewadaef) ```json {"@context":"https://schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https://daily.dev/#organization","name":"daily.dev","url":"https://daily.dev","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://daily.dev/apple-touch-icon.png","width":180,"height":180},"sameAs":["https://twitter.com/dailydotdev","https://github.com/dailydotdev","https://www.linkedin.com/company/daily-dev-ltd"]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https://daily.dev/#website","url":"https://daily.dev","name":"daily.dev","publisher":{"@id":"https://daily.dev/#organization"},"potentialAction":{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https://daily.dev/search?q={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}}]} {"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"TechArticle","headline":"All Your GUCs in a Row: data_directory","url":"https://daily.dev/posts/all-your-gucs-in-a-row-data-directory-nyewadaef","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://daily.dev/posts/all-your-gucs-in-a-row-data-directory-nyewadaef"},"datePublished":"2026-06-06T00:20:00.058Z","dateModified":"2026-06-06T00:20:22.301Z","description":"PostgreSQL's `data_directory` GUC names the location of the cluster's data directory ($PGDATA). 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