How to reload postgres config files without restarting db on the LIVE

you can change it on the live service and kill -1 to make it take effect
we should not kill postgres right
yea, if you edit postmaster.conf and change max_connections=512 then it should not require stopping and starting .
cat postmaster.pid
database]$ cat postmaster.pid
32623
/work/database
database]$ cat postmaster.pid
32623
so pid 32623 is your postmaster pid f
so if you kill -1 32623
after you have done the changes to postgresql.conf file
that will make postmaster re-read the config file without shutting it down
i.e. existing connections dont get dropped.
ur sure it wont kill the db like last time
and how to check if it has read the new postgresql.conf
i guess if you tail -f the log file.
the active postgresql log file (in pg_log folder) will say "reloading.."

received SIGHUP, reloading configuration files
if you had a really bad typo , then the database would either ignore the changes, or safely shutitself down.