Re: Pg_Dump Strange Error

"Jorge E. Alvarez" <demasiado(at)antisocial(dot)com> writes:
> I have a PostgreSQL 6.5.3 database server working flawlessly under
> Linux-Mandrake 7.0
> However, when I try to use the pg_dump utility, I get this error:
> #pg_dump myDatabase > backup.db
> NOTICE: get_groname: group 87 not found
> getTables(): SELECT failed. Explanation from backend: 'pqReadData() --
> backend closed the channel unexpectedly.

This is a known bug in 6.5 --- it doesn't cope with deleted groups
very gracefully. You have a table somewhere with GRANT permission
for a group number 87 that doesn't exist any longer, and the backend
crashes when pg_dump asks about the privileges on that table.

Easiest recovery method is probably to recreate a group with that
same number, eg
insert into pg_group values ('bogus', 87, '{}');

I believe this bug is fixed in 7.0.

regards, tom lane