Re: Not clear sentence

On Fri, Jan 21, 2022 at 5:37 AM Laurenz Albe <laurenz(dot)albe(at)cybertec(dot)at>
wrote:

> On Thu, 2022-01-20 at 19:46 +0000, PG Doc comments form wrote:
> > Page: https://www.postgresql.org/docs/14/backup-dump.html
> > Description:
> >
> > Text: This is necessary to fully backup the cluster if running the
> pg_dump
> > command on individual databases.
> >
> > Please provide an explanation or re-write the same, thanks.
>
> Hm, yes, that could be improved. Perhaps:
>
> This is required for a full backup of the cluster that is performed
> by pg_dump on the individual databases.
>
>
I don't see a problem with the existing wording. And as the OP hasn't
really described what is confusing them it is difficult to contemplate a
rewrite that would remove that confusion.

The sentence means that one must run pg_dumpall --globals-only (that is
what "this" is referring to without doubt) and add the result to their
backup (implied by the wording "necessary to fully backup"; this data is
missing...) if their backup routine consists of backing up individual
databases using the pg_dump command (exact wording).

If anything, whether one chooses to backup all databases in a cluster
individually using pg_dump is immaterial. Any single database backed up
using pg_dump is incomplete if it is restored into an empty cluster. One
must also restore the globals into that cluster first to produce a valid
restoration of that database. The existing wording implies as much (and we
rightly assume restoration into a freshly initialized cluster) so still no
word-smithing seems needed here.

But hopefully the OP is less confused now.

David J.