As of PostgreSQL 13, changes to the fundamental replication
configuration can be applied with a simple SIGHUP, no restart
required.
In case the old behaviour is desired, i.e. a full restart to apply
the configuration changes, the new configuration parameter
"standby_follow_restart" can be set. This parameter has no effect
in PostgreSQL 12 and earlier.
While it's technically possible to have a standby follow another
standby while the primary is not available, repmgr will not be able
to update its metadata, which will cause Confusion and Chaos.
Update the documentation to make this clear, and provide a more helpful
error message if this situation occurs. The operation previously
failed anyway, but with an unhelpful message about not being able to
find a node record.