Re: pg_basebackup and error messages dependent on the order of the arguments

Fujii Masao <masao.fujii@oss.nttdata.com>

From: Fujii Masao <masao.fujii@oss.nttdata.com>
To: "Daniel Westermann (DWE)" <daniel.westermann@dbi-services.com>, "pgsql-hackers@postgresql.org" <pgsql-hackers@postgresql.org>
Date: 2024-09-30T16:34:22Z
Lists: pgsql-hackers

On 2024/09/30 20:10, Daniel Westermann (DWE) wrote:
> Hi,
> 
> shouldn't this give the same error message?
> 
> $ pg_basebackup --checkpoint=fast --format=t --compress --pgdata=/var/tmp/dummy
> pg_basebackup: error: must specify output directory or backup target
> pg_basebackup: hint: Try "pg_basebackup --help" for more information.
> 
> $ pg_basebackup --pgdata=/var/tmp/dummy  --checkpoint=fast --format=t --compress
> pg_basebackup: option '--compress' requires an argument
> pg_basebackup: hint: Try "pg_basebackup --help" for more information.
> 
> I don't see why the first case gives not the same message as the second, especially as the "output directory" is specified.

I guess because "--pgdata=/var/tmp/dummy" is processed as the argument of
--compress option in the first case, but not in the second case.
You can see the same error if you specify other optoin requiring an argument,
such as --label, in the first case.

Regards,

-- 
Fujii Masao
Advanced Computing Technology Center
Research and Development Headquarters
NTT DATA CORPORATION