Re: Confusing error message in 15.6

On Tue, 2024-05-21 at 23:58 +0000, Dmitry O Litvintsev wrote:

> > > I am observing the following error which confuses me:
> > >
> > > # psql -U postgres template1 -c "checkpoint; select pg_backup_start('${dest}.tar.Z', true)"
> > > CHECKPOINT
> > > pg_backup_start
> > > -----------------
> > > 17BF7/3009498
> > > (1 row)
> > >
> > > # psql -U postgres template1 -c "select pg_backup_stop(true)"
> > > ERROR: backup is not in progress
> > > HINT: Did you call pg_backup_start()?
> > >
> > > This is postgresql 15.6 running on RH 7.
> >
> > Yep, nowadays you must keep the transaction where you issued backup start open until
> > you issue backup end. Using -c isn't going to cut it.
>
> Oops. This means major rewrite of my backup procedure. Thanks for pointing
> this out. I will likely just switch to pg_basebackup. What I have is
> something old and gnarly from the days of psql version 8.

You could try https://github.com/cybertec-postgresql/safe-backup
to make the transition smoother.

Yours,
Laurenz Albe