Re: Remove Deprecated Exclusive Backup Mode

Peter Eisentraut <peter.eisentraut@2ndquadrant.com>

From: Peter Eisentraut <peter.eisentraut@2ndquadrant.com>

To: David Steele <david@pgmasters.net>, Robert Haas <robertmhaas@gmail.com>

Cc: PostgreSQL Hackers <pgsql-hackers@lists.postgresql.org>

Date: 2018-12-14T08:01:08Z

Lists: pgsql-hackers

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Remove exclusive backup mode
- 39969e2a1e4d 15.0 landed

On 13/12/2018 20:17, David Steele wrote:
> On 12/13/18 2:02 PM, Peter Eisentraut wrote:
>> On 12/12/2018 05:09, David Steele wrote:
>>> I think the patch stands on its own.  Exclusive backup mode is broken
>>> and is know to cause problems in the field.
>>
>> Is this breakage documented anywhere for users?
> 
> Yes:
> 
> https://www.postgresql.org/docs/11/continuous-archiving.html
> 
> "Note that if the server crashes during the backup it may not be
> possible to restart until the backup_label file has been manually
> deleted from the PGDATA directory."
> 
> Seems like the wording could be stronger.

I think that is a pretty liberal interpretation of the word "broken".
All this says is "if you do A, and B happens, then you need to do C".

Clearly, not having to do that at all is better, but if this is all
there is to it, then I'm confused by the characterizations of how awful
and terrible this feature is and how we must rush to remove it.

-- 
Peter Eisentraut              http://www.2ndQuadrant.com/
PostgreSQL Development, 24x7 Support, Remote DBA, Training & Services