Re: Remove Deprecated Exclusive Backup Mode

From: Robert Haas <robertmhaas(at)gmail(dot)com>
To: Magnus Hagander <magnus(at)hagander(dot)net>
Cc: Stephen Frost <sfrost(at)snowman(dot)net>, Laurenz Albe <laurenz(dot)albe(at)cybertec(dot)at>, David Steele <david(at)pgmasters(dot)net>, PostgreSQL Developers <pgsql-hackers(at)lists(dot)postgresql(dot)org>
Subject: Re: Remove Deprecated Exclusive Backup Mode
Date: 2020-07-01 19:43:26
Message-ID: CA+TgmoZ9oBEz8GfTiYkpYOQ7vWfhq=P8y6eHsMYxPck5snvzVw@mail.gmail.com
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On Wed, Jul 1, 2020 at 11:48 AM Magnus Hagander <magnus(at)hagander(dot)net> wrote:
> We don't even need to make it an exclusive mode -- we can allow *nonexclusive* backups but remove the requirement to run start and stop backup in the same connection, which I believe is the problem that people have with the exclusive mode.

Well, one of the big advantages of the non-exclusive mode is that the
backup automatically is terminated if the connection is closed, which
removes the possibility of leaving a backup in progress for a long
time inadvertently. I think that back-tracking on that would probably
be a step in the wrong direction.

I agree with what I understand to be Bruce's position -- non-exclusive
backup mode is better than exclusive mode backup mode, but exclusive
backup mode is not broken and doesn't need to be removed. I think it's
very sensible to continue to support exclusive backup mode but to
encourage users to use non-exclusive backup mode instead. I find
Stephen's position that exclusive backup mode cannot be used safely to
be unsupported by any compelling evidence, and reviewing the thread, I
find that there are a LOT of people who seem to agree.

--
Robert Haas
EnterpriseDB: http://www.enterprisedb.com
The Enterprise PostgreSQL Company

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