initial values and runtime changes in selected parameters. This gets
rid of the need for an initial 'select pg_client_encoding()' query in
libpq, bringing us back to one message transmitted in each direction
for a standard connection startup. To allow server version to be sent
using the same GUC mechanism that handles other parameters, invent the
concept of a never-settable GUC parameter: you can 'show server_version'
but it's not settable by any GUC input source. Create 'lc_collate' and
'lc_ctype' never-settable parameters so that people can find out these
settings without need for pg_controldata. (These side ideas were all
discussed some time ago in pgsql-hackers, but not yet implemented.)
9cbaf72177