pg_ctl problem (was Re: BeOS Patch)

Cyril VELTER <cyril(dot)velter(at)libertysurf(dot)fr> writes:
> pg_ctl output when no shm segments left

> pg_ctl: It seems another postmaster is running. Trying to start postmaster
> anyway.
> pg_ctl: cannot start postmaster <-------- not true !!!
> Examine the log output.
> DEBUG: database system was interrupted at 2001-03-18 12:01:57 CET
> DEBUG: CheckPoint record at (0, 20204684)
> DEBUG: Redo record at (0, 20204684); Undo record at (0, 0); Shutdown TRUE
> DEBUG: NextTransactionId: 5384; NextOid: 153313
> DEBUG: database system was not properly shut down; automatic recovery in
> progress...
> DEBUG: ReadRecord: record with zero len at (0, 20204748)
> DEBUG: redo is not required
> DEBUG: database system is in production state

Looking at the pg_ctl script, it seems this must be coming from

eval '$po_path' '$POSTOPTS' $logopt '&'

if [ -f $PIDFILE ];then
if [ "`sed -n 1p $PIDFILE`" = "$pid" ];then
echo "$CMDNAME: cannot start postmaster" 1>&2
echo "Examine the log output." 1>&2
exit 1
fi
fi

which is clearly not giving the postmaster enough time to remove or
rewrite the pidfile. Shouldn't we put a "sleep 1" in there before
the "if"?

regards, tom lane