Re: initdb and fsync

Noah Misch <noah@leadboat.com>

From: Noah Misch <noah@leadboat.com>
To: Jeff Davis <pgsql@j-davis.com>
Cc: pgsql-hackers@postgresql.org
Date: 2012-01-28T04:52:19Z
Lists: pgsql-hackers
On Fri, Jan 27, 2012 at 04:19:41PM -0800, Jeff Davis wrote:
> It looks like initdb doesn't fsync all the files it creates, e.g. the
> PG_VERSION file.
> 
> While it's unlikely that it would cause any real data loss, it can be
> inconvenient in some testing scenarios involving VMs.
> 
> Thoughts? Would a patch to add a few fsync calls to initdb be accepted?

+1.  If I'm piloting "strace -f" right, initdb currently issues *no* syncs.

We'd probably, then, want a way to re-disable the fsyncs for hacker benefit.

> Is a platform-independent fsync be available at initdb time?

Not sure.

Thanks,
nm