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8th chunk of `doc/src/sgml/ref/pg_ctl-ref.sgml`
2bc9887018ae8cddd586528ac62879c6f63e4616fd36449b0000000100000983
   <para>
       Start type of the system service.  <replaceable>start-type</replaceable> can
       be <literal>auto</literal>, or <literal>demand</literal>, or
       the first letter of one of these two. If this option is omitted,
       <literal>auto</literal> is the default.
      </para>
     </listitem>
    </varlistentry>

    <varlistentry>
     <term><option>-U <replaceable class="parameter">username</replaceable></option></term>
     <listitem>
      <para>
       User name for the user to run the service as. For domain users, use the
       format <literal>DOMAIN\username</literal>.
      </para>
     </listitem>
    </varlistentry>
   </variablelist>
  </refsect2>

 </refsect1>


 <refsect1>
  <title>Environment</title>

  <variablelist>
   <varlistentry>
    <term><envar>PGCTLTIMEOUT</envar></term>

    <listitem>
     <para>
      Default limit on the number of seconds to wait when waiting for startup
      or shutdown to complete.  If not set, the default is 60 seconds.
     </para>
    </listitem>
   </varlistentry>

   <varlistentry>
    <term><envar>PGDATA</envar></term>

    <listitem>
     <para>
      Default data directory location.
     </para>
    </listitem>
   </varlistentry>

  </variablelist>

  <para>
   Most <command>pg_ctl</command> modes require knowing the data directory
   location; therefore, the <option>-D</option> option is required
   unless <envar>PGDATA</envar> is set.
  </para>

  <para>
   For additional variables that affect the server,
   see <xref linkend="app-postgres"/>.
  </para>
 </refsect1>


 <refsect1>
  <title>Files</title>

  <variablelist>
   <varlistentry>
    <term><filename>postmaster.pid</filename></term>

    <listitem>
     <para>
      <application>pg_ctl</application> examines this file in the data
      directory to determine whether the server is currently running.
     </para>
    </listitem>
   </varlistentry>

   <varlistentry>
    <term><filename>postmaster.opts</filename></term>

    <listitem>
     <para>If this file exists in the data directory,
      <application>pg_ctl</application> (in <option>restart</option> mode)
      will pass the contents of the file as options to
      <application>postgres</application>, unless overridden
      by the <option>-o</option> option. The contents of this file
      are also displayed in <option>status</option> mode.
     </para>
    </listitem>
   </varlistentry>

  </variablelist>
Title: pg_ctl Environment Variables and Files
Summary
This section details the environment variables `PGCTLTIMEOUT` (default wait time for startup/shutdown, default 60 seconds) and `PGDATA` (default data directory). The `-D` option is required unless `PGDATA` is set. Additionally, it describes the `postmaster.pid` (examined to check if the server is running) and `postmaster.opts` (used in restart mode to pass options to postgres) files.