Re: Misleading/inaccurate error message from pg_basebackup

Hmm, this must be a problem with the Debian packaging then.

root(at)prime-or1-pg-truth-2:~# file /usr/bin/pg_basebackup
/usr/bin/pg_basebackup: symbolic link to ../share/postgresql-common/pg_wrapper

Do you know the correct place to file an appropriate report for the Debian package maintainers?

Thanks,
--
Casey

> On Jan 23, 2024, at 5:27 AM, Daniel Gustafsson <daniel(at)yesql(dot)se> wrote:
>
>> On 22 Jan 2024, at 17:47, c(at)osss(dot)net wrote:
>
>> pg_basebackup can throw an error which is inaccurate and misleading:
>
>> $ pg_basebackup --version
>> Error: /var/lib/postgresql/14/main is not accessible; please fix the directory permissions (/var/lib/postgresql/14/ should be world readable)
>>
>> In fact it does not need to be world readable at all - the subdirectory just needs to be created:
>
>> This check is being done in cases where it's unnecessary, as it shouldn't matter at all when running a simple --version or --help, anyways.
>
> There is no such check before --version or --help, and no such check at all in
> pg_basebackup. Whatever is raising that error probably isn't postgres or
> pg_basebackup. When pg_basebackup logs an error it looks like this:
>
> pg_basebackup: error: /var/lib/postgresql/14/main is not accessible
>
> Something else is doing this on your system.
>
> --
> Daniel Gustafsson
>