diff --git a/doc/src/sgml/config.sgml b/doc/src/sgml/config.sgml
index 069ab9a8fb..b3b65f5f0d 100644
--- a/doc/src/sgml/config.sgml
+++ b/doc/src/sgml/config.sgml
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
-<!-- $PostgreSQL: pgsql/doc/src/sgml/config.sgml,v 1.209 2009/02/22 23:50:30 tgl Exp $ -->
+<!-- $PostgreSQL: pgsql/doc/src/sgml/config.sgml,v 1.210 2009/02/24 12:09:08 petere Exp $ -->
 
 <chapter Id="runtime-config">
   <title>Server Configuration</title>
@@ -2398,16 +2398,20 @@ local0.*    /var/log/postgresql
         so <literal>%</literal>-escapes can be used to specify time-varying
         file names.  (Note that if there are
         any time-zone-dependent <literal>%</literal>-escapes, the computation
-        is done in the zone specified by <xref linkend="guc-log-timezone">.)
-        If no <literal>%</literal>-escapes are present,
-        <productname>PostgreSQL</productname> will append the epoch of the new
-        log file's creation time.  For example, if
-        <varname>log_filename</varname> were <literal>server_log</literal>,
-        then the chosen file name would be <literal>server_log.1093827753</>
-        for a log starting at Sun Aug 29 19:02:33 2004 MST.
+        is done in the zone specified
+        by <xref linkend="guc-log-timezone">.)
         Note that the system's <systemitem>strftime</systemitem> is not used
         directly, so platform-specific (nonstandard) extensions do not work.
        </para>
+       <para>
+        If you specify a file name without escapes, you should plan to
+        use a log rotation utility to avoid eventually filling the
+        entire disk.  In releases prior to 8.4, if
+        no <literal>%</literal> escapes were
+        present, <productname>PostgreSQL</productname> would append
+        the epoch of the new log file's creation time, but this is no
+        longer the case.
+       </para>
        <para>
         If CSV-format output is enabled in <varname>log_destination</>,
         <literal>.csv</> will be appended to the timestamped 
diff --git a/src/backend/postmaster/syslogger.c b/src/backend/postmaster/syslogger.c
index 5c9eb1654f..189ca58bba 100644
--- a/src/backend/postmaster/syslogger.c
+++ b/src/backend/postmaster/syslogger.c
@@ -18,7 +18,7 @@
  *
  *
  * IDENTIFICATION
- *	  $PostgreSQL: pgsql/src/backend/postmaster/syslogger.c,v 1.48 2009/02/03 00:59:26 tgl Exp $
+ *	  $PostgreSQL: pgsql/src/backend/postmaster/syslogger.c,v 1.49 2009/02/24 12:09:09 petere Exp $
  *
  *-------------------------------------------------------------------------
  */
@@ -1191,18 +1191,9 @@ logfile_getname(pg_time_t timestamp, char *suffix)
 
 	len = strlen(filename);
 
-	if (strchr(Log_filename, '%'))
-	{
-		/* treat it as a strftime pattern */
-		pg_strftime(filename + len, MAXPGPATH - len, Log_filename,
-					pg_localtime(&timestamp, log_timezone));
-	}
-	else
-	{
-		/* no strftime escapes, so append timestamp to new filename */
-		snprintf(filename + len, MAXPGPATH - len, "%s.%lu",
-				 Log_filename, (unsigned long) timestamp);
-	}
+	/* treat it as a strftime pattern */
+	pg_strftime(filename + len, MAXPGPATH - len, Log_filename,
+		pg_localtime(&timestamp, log_timezone));
 
 	if (suffix != NULL)
 	{