Re: pg_verifybackup fails

On Mon, Feb 16, 2026 at 4:40 PM Subramanian,Ramachandran
<ramachandran.subramanian@alte-leipziger.de> wrote:
>
> Hello,
>
>
>
>    we are running postgres V16 on Linux and when I try to run pg_verifybackup I get the following error.
>
>
>
> Does it mean that we have an incomplete installation ?
>
>
>
> I would be grateful for any pointers on how to resolve this issue.
>
>
>
> LG
>
>
> Ram
>
>
>
> [postgres]$ pg_verifybackup /var/lib/pgsql/base_backup_dir/XXX/2026-02-16T11-52-27
>
> pg_verifybackup: error: program "pg_waldump" is needed by pg_verifybackup but was not found in the same directory as "/usr/bin/pg_verifybackup"
>
>
>
> [postgres]$ type pg_verifybackup
>
> pg_verifybackup is hashed (/bin/pg_verifybackup)
>
> [postgres]$ type pg_waldump
>
> -bash: type: pg_waldump: not found
>

Yes, pg_waldump is missing, which suggests an incomplete installation.
For the time being, you can bypass this error by using the
--no-parse-wal option in pg_verifybackup to skip WAL verification, but
it’s better to install pg_waldump for the complete verification.

Regards,
Amul