Re: pg_dump why no indicator of completion

That's like complaining that a Toyota Camry isn't fit for hauling 10 cubic
yards of sand.

On 5/1/23 08:55, richard coleman wrote:
> Ron,
>
> Are you writing that pg_dump is unfit for purpose and that I should be
> using a commercial backup solution instead?
>
> rik.
>
> On Mon, May 1, 2023 at 9:43 AM Ron <ronljohnsonjr(at)gmail(dot)com> wrote:
>
>
>
> On 5/1/23 07:56, richard coleman wrote:
>> Ron,
>> So what you are saying is that I have to write a shell script around
>> pg_dump to catch the exit code of pg_dump since the developers of
>> pg_dump didn't have pg_dump simply write an exit message?
>>
>> Since multiple pg_dump commands are often run at the same command
>> prompt, and they can take hours, if not days to run,
>
> Running a days-long pg_dump at any time except special occasions isn't
> very wise.  Especially from a command prompt.
>
> Binary backup/restore programs are /much/ faster (if for no other
> reason than they let you do incremental and differential backups).
>
>> and there are a myriad of other commands the will be run in the
>> interim, any exit code generated by pg_dump with be lost in the
>> flotsam and jetsam of the multitude of exit codes created by every
>> other command run between the calling of pg_dump and it's eventual
>> termination. It could have completed successfully, crashed, been
>> killed, etc.
>>
>> Or am I mistaken?
>>
>> thanks,
>> rik.
>>
>> On Sun, Apr 30, 2023 at 11:28 PM Ron <ronljohnsonjr(at)gmail(dot)com> wrote:
>>
>> On 4/30/23 19:18, richard coleman wrote:
>>> Hi all,
>>>
>>> I've been working with pg_dump and one thing that's always
>>> struck me as strange is that there never seems to be an
>>> indication in the log that the pg_dump process completed
>>> successfully.
>>>
>>> For example, I've been running a bunch of backups with pg_dump
>>> in directory mode with multiple jobs.  When I come back several
>>> hours later there are no pg_dump processes running. The log is
>>> filled with:
>>>
>>> dumping contents of foo
>>> finished item 123456 of TABLE DATA bar
>>> etc.
>>>
>>>
>>> Other than trying to restore the multi terabyte database
>>> somewhere else is there any way to know that it actually
>>> finished successfully?
>>>
>>> Why doesn't pg_dump add a line in the output like:
>>>
>>> pg_backup finished
>>>
>>> when it's completed successfully?
>>>
>>> This seems like a terrible oversight.
>>>
>>> Am I missing something obvious?
>>
>> "They" expect you to do the Unix Thing and check $?. Thus, that's
>> what I do; any non-zero value generates an email with a scary
>> subject line, the specifics of which are based on the exact code
>> value.  I'm not near my work computer; otherwise I'd share them
>> with you.
>>
>> --
>> Born in Arizona, moved to Babylonia.
>>
>
> --
> Born in Arizona, moved to Babylonia.
>

--
Born in Arizona, moved to Babylonia.