Seeking information about backup/recovery

Dear PostgreSQL admin'ers,

Our group at OSDL have been porting our DBT test kits to PostgreSQL.
In getting up to speed on PostgreSQL, we have not found a way to recover
from a serious database failure (disk corruption, disk/volume failure).

The following scenario described in the 7.3 docs and the "PostgreSQL
7.4devel Documentation" is exactly what we are looking for:

"WAL offers the opportunity for a new method for database on-line backup
and restore (BAR). To use this method, one would have to make periodic
saves of data files to another disk, a tape or another host and also
archive the WAL log files. The database file copy and the archived log
files could be used to restore just as if one were restoring after a
crash. Each time a new database file copy was made the old log files
could be removed. Implementing this facility will require the logging of
data file and index creation and deletion; it will also require
development of a method for copying the data files (operating system
copy commands are not suitable). "

Since it states that WAL, "offers the opportunity" for what we need, we
concluded this is _not supported at 7.3 and the 7.4 beta releases.

Is this conclusion correct?

Of course we would like to do even more - point in time recovery,
incremental backup, but for now just the basics.

Point in Time recovery is listed as "Urgent" on the TODO list,
incremental backups are listed under "Admin", so it appears that those
items are recognized as important. What we cannot understand is why the
basic backup/restore described above is not on the TODO list.

Can anyone enlighten us?

--
Mary Edie Meredith <maryedie(at)osdl(dot)org>
Open Source Development Lab