--- title: All Your GUCs in a Row: external_pid_file | daily.dev description: PostgreSQL's `external_pid_file` GUC lets the postmaster write a second, minimal PID file to a custom path alongside the standard `postmaster.pid` in the data... canonical: https://daily.dev/posts/all-your-gucs-in-a-row-external-pid-file-t7mm1hv7k twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:site: @dailydotdev og:type: website og:site_name: daily.dev og:title: All Your GUCs in a Row: external_pid_file | daily.dev og:description: PostgreSQL's `external_pid_file` GUC lets the postmaster write a second, minimal PID file to a custom path alongside the standard `postmaster.pid` in the data... og:url: https://daily.dev/posts/all-your-gucs-in-a-row-external-pid-file-t7mm1hv7k og:image: https://api.daily.dev/og/posts/t7MM1hV7K.png og:image:alt: All Your GUCs in a Row: external_pid_file 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: external_pid_file **[Planet PostgreSQL](https://daily.dev/sources/planet-postgresql)** · 2 min read · 0 upvotes · 0 comments ## Summary PostgreSQL's `external_pid_file` GUC lets the postmaster write a second, minimal PID file to a custom path alongside the standard `postmaster.pid` in the data directory. This is useful when cluster managers or init scripts (e.g., Pacemaker, Red Hat Cluster resource agents) expect the PID at a conventional location like `/run/postgresql/postgresql.pid`. The key gotcha is permissions: the target directory must be writable by the `postgres` user or startup fails. Under modern systemd-managed setups the parameter is largely unnecessary since systemd tracks processes via cgroups, but it remains relevant for legacy clusterware. ## 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: port](https://daily.dev/posts/all-your-gucs-in-a-row-port-uoacyypyd) · Planet PostgreSQL · 0 upvotes · 0 comments - [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](https://daily.dev/posts/all-your-gucs-in-a-row-data-directory-nyewadaef) · Planet PostgreSQL · 0 upvotes · 0 comments - [All Your GUCs in a Row: extension\_control\_path](https://daily.dev/posts/all-your-gucs-in-a-row-extension-control-path-nnvvjerix) · Planet PostgreSQL · 0 upvotes · 1 comments - [All Your GUCs in a Row: ident\_file](https://daily.dev/posts/all-your-gucs-in-a-row-ident-file-4qprt4re6) · Planet PostgreSQL · 0 upvotes · 0 comments --- Tags: [#linux](https://daily.dev/tags/linux), [#postgresql](https://daily.dev/tags/postgresql) [View this post on daily.dev](https://daily.dev/posts/all-your-gucs-in-a-row-external-pid-file-t7mm1hv7k) ```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: external_pid_file","url":"https://daily.dev/posts/all-your-gucs-in-a-row-external-pid-file-t7mm1hv7k","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://daily.dev/posts/all-your-gucs-in-a-row-external-pid-file-t7mm1hv7k"},"datePublished":"2026-07-19T01:06:24.406Z","dateModified":"2026-07-19T01:06:43.402Z","description":"PostgreSQL's `external_pid_file` GUC lets the postmaster write a second, minimal PID file to a custom path alongside the standard `postmaster.pid` in the data...","image":"https://media.daily.dev/image/upload/f_auto,q_auto/v1/posts/250ca832b62c4b7f967e069d2c042140?_a=AQAEuop","thumbnailUrl":"https://media.daily.dev/image/upload/f_auto,q_auto/v1/posts/250ca832b62c4b7f967e069d2c042140?_a=AQAEuop","isAccessibleForFree":true,"articleSection":"Planet PostgreSQL","inLanguage":"en","publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"daily.dev","url":"https://daily.dev","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://daily.dev/apple-touch-icon.png","width":180,"height":180}},"author":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Planet PostgreSQL","logo":"https://media.daily.dev/image/upload/logos/placeholder.jpg","url":"https://daily.dev/sources/planet-postgresql"},"commentCount":0,"discussionUrl":"https://daily.dev/posts/all-your-gucs-in-a-row-external-pid-file-t7mm1hv7k","interactionStatistic":[{"@type":"InteractionCounter","interactionType":{"@type":"LikeAction"},"userInteractionCount":0},{"@type":"InteractionCounter","interactionType":{"@type":"CommentAction"},"userInteractionCount":0}],"keywords":"linux,postgresql","timeRequired":"PT2M"} {"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https://daily.dev"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Planet PostgreSQL","item":"https://daily.dev/sources/planet-postgresql"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"name":"All Your GUCs in a Row: external_pid_file"}]} ```