Re: pg_start_backup and pg_stop_backup Re: Re: [COMMITTERS] pgsql: Make CheckRequiredParameterValues() depend upon correct

Simon Riggs <simon@2ndquadrant.com>

From: Simon Riggs <simon@2ndQuadrant.com>
To: Robert Haas <robertmhaas@gmail.com>
Cc: Bruce Momjian <bruce@momjian.us>, Tom Lane <tgl@sss.pgh.pa.us>, Heikki Linnakangas <heikki.linnakangas@enterprisedb.com>, Fujii Masao <masao.fujii@gmail.com>, Alvaro Herrera <alvherre@commandprompt.com>, Josh Berkus <josh@agliodbs.com>, pgsql-hackers@postgresql.org
Date: 2010-04-30T18:08:25Z
Lists: pgsql-hackers
On Fri, 2010-04-30 at 13:52 -0400, Robert Haas wrote:
> On Fri, Apr 30, 2010 at 1:44 PM, Simon Riggs <simon@2ndquadrant.com> wrote:
> > On Fri, 2010-04-30 at 12:22 -0400, Bruce Momjian wrote:
> >> >
> >> > (wal_keep_segments can be changed without restarting, right?)
> >>
> >> Should we allow -1 to mean "keep all segments"?
> >
> > Why is that not called "max_wal_segments"? wal_keep_segments sounds like
> > its been through Google translate.
> 
> Because it's not a maximum?

I see the thinking, but why would you ever set it to be something that
is *less* than the existing numbers? That would be pointless and indeed,
does nothing. The only time you touch it at all is when you set it to be
a value higher than the number of files that would normally be kept, and
when that is the case it *will* be the maximum.

So I say, max_wal_segments = 0 (default) meaning no limit, we just
rotate as needed. We put a comment in the docs to say that if a value is
selected less than 2*checkpoint_segments+1 then the value is overridden.

-- 
 Simon Riggs           www.2ndQuadrant.com