I downloaded and installed Postgres 15.4 and then let StackBuilder run. All I installed was pgAgent and the four drivers. The software notified me that I should choose “Restart Later” or “No” if I was asked about restarting. Instead of getting that type of question along the way, I got no such questions. Fine. Figured the software needing to be installed didn’t need a reboot (why would drivers need that, after all?). But, without any warning, the installation rebooted my server. Just all of a sudden – bam!. No warning. This was on a production server. Now, I did this because 1) I was led to believe that there would be no forced restart and 2) the transaction rate on this server is low and, frankly, a reboot like this is unlikely to cause any problems for this server. However, there’s no excuse for unannounced reboots. It should always involve user permission except in a silent install.
Why is this software allowed to do this?! In advance, let me say I hope I don’t get any “you shouldn’t have done this on a server during business hours.” Well, 1) I’ve already explained why, and 2) developers should never use that to shirk responsibility. Reboots should always be authorized by the user. If a mandatory reboot is required at the exact moment of installation for some reason, that should be disclosed very clearly at the outset.