Re: file-locking and postmaster.pid

Adis Nezirovic <adis(at)linux(dot)org(dot)ba> writes:
> Well, maybe you could tweak postgres startup script, add check for post
> master (either 'pgrep postmaster' or 'ps -axu | grep [p]ostmaster'), and
> delete pid file on negative results.

This is exactly what you should NOT do.

A start script that thinks it is smarter than the postmaster is almost
certainly wrong. It is certainly dangerous, too, because auto-deleting
that pidfile destroys the interlock against having two postmasters
running in the same data directory (which WILL corrupt your data,
quickly and irretrievably). All it takes to cause a problem is to
use the start script to start a postmaster, forgetting that you already
have one running ...

regards, tom lane