Re: Documentation clarification request: pg_dumpall and Large Objects

Il Ven 27 Feb 2026, 23:23 Laurenz Albe <laurenz.albe@cybertec.at> ha
scritto:

> On Thu, 2025-12-04 at 19:11 +0100, Laurenz Albe wrote:
> > On Thu, 2025-12-04 at 18:12 +0100, Radoulov, Dimitre wrote:
> > > Il Gio 4 Dic 2025, 16:50 Laurenz Albe <laurenz.albe@cybertec.at> ha
> scritto:
> > > > On Thu, 2025-12-04 at 13:12 +0100, Radoulov, Dimitre wrote:
> > > > > I would like to request a clarification in the pg_dumpall
> > > > > documentation regarding Large Objects (LOBs). The current
> > > > > documentation does not explicitly state whether pg_dumpall includes
> > > > > Large Objects in its output.
> > > >
> > > > I admit that you have to go by circumstantial evidence here.  But
> rather
> > > > than explicitly naming large objects, perhaps it would be useful to
> add something
> > > > like
> > > >
> > > >   pg_dumpall is primarily intended as a tool to upgrade database
> clusters.
> > > >   As such, it by default exports all data of the entire cluster.
> > > >   The only part of the state of a database cluster that is *not*
> included
> > > >   in the output of pg_dumpall are the configuration files and
> database parameters
> > > >   changed with ALTER SYSTEM.
> >
> > Attached is a patch for such a change.
>
> Commit 763aaa06f0 has changed the situation: with the addition of other
> formats
> than the plain format, it no longer makes sense to say that pg_dumpall
> is not useful for backup.  Still, we should clarify what is *not* included.
>
> The attached patch does that and in passing improves the readability.
>


Thank you for the update.

Best regards
Dimitre

>