Re: Why does the pg_dumpall command have a database option?

On 6/21/19 6:32 AM, Espresso Beanies wrote:
> Will it still dump all of the databases or just the one it connects to?

It will dump all the databases. It is just that pg_dumpall is a client
to the server and therefore needs to connect to a database within the
cluster to do it's work. That is true of all the programs listed here:

https://www.postgresql.org/docs/11/reference-client.html

Programs that do not have to connect can be found here:

https://www.postgresql.org/docs/11/reference-server.html

>
> On Thu, Jun 20, 2019 at 4:13 PM Adrian Klaver <adrian(dot)klaver(at)aklaver(dot)com
> <mailto:adrian(dot)klaver(at)aklaver(dot)com>> wrote:
>
> On 6/20/19 1:03 PM, Espresso Beanies wrote:
> > I'm trying to see if someone could answer to me why the pg_dumpall
> > command has a database option when it's designed to dump all the
> > databases in a PostgreSQL server instance. I'm only asking
> because when
> > I create a .pgpass file and try to use the pg_dumpall command,
> I'm still
> > required to specify a specific database even though the command
> itself
> > should be targeting all databases. Can anyone explain this to me
> a bit
> > better?
> >
> > Thanks,
>
> Because pg_dumpall is a client and needs to connect to a database to
> kick start the process/fetch global information:
>
> https://www.postgresql.org/docs/11/app-pg-dumpall.html
>
> -l dbname
> --database=dbname
>
>      Specifies the name of the database to connect to for dumping
> global
> objects and discovering what other databases should be dumped. If not
> specified, the postgres database will be used, and if that does not
> exist, template1 will be used.
>
>
> --
> Adrian Klaver
> adrian(dot)klaver(at)aklaver(dot)com <mailto:adrian(dot)klaver(at)aklaver(dot)com>
>

--
Adrian Klaver
adrian(dot)klaver(at)aklaver(dot)com