Don't use "cp -i" in the example WAL archive_command.

This is a dangerous example to provide because on machines with GNU cp,
it will silently do the wrong thing and risk archive corruption.  Worse,
during the 9.0 cycle somebody "improved" the discussion by removing the
warning that used to be there about that, and instead leaving the
impression that the command would work as desired on most Unixen.
It doesn't.  Try to rectify the damage by providing an example that is safe
most everywhere, and then noting that you can try cp -i if you want but
you'd better test that.

In back-patching this to all supported branches, I also added an example
command for Windows, which wasn't provided before 9.0.
REL8_2_STABLE
Tom Lane 14 years ago
parent 6c320b8ab8
commit 26996cf78e
  1. 23
      doc/src/sgml/backup.sgml

@ -530,7 +530,8 @@ tar -cf backup.tar /usr/local/pgsql/data
character in the command. The simplest useful command is something character in the command. The simplest useful command is something
like like
<programlisting> <programlisting>
archive_command = 'cp -i %p /mnt/server/archivedir/%f &lt;/dev/null' archive_command = 'test ! -f /mnt/server/archivedir/%f && cp %p /mnt/server/archivedir/%f' # Unix
archive_command = 'copy "%p" "C:\\server\\archivedir\\%f"' # Windows
</programlisting> </programlisting>
which will copy archivable WAL segments to the directory which will copy archivable WAL segments to the directory
<filename>/mnt/server/archivedir</>. (This is an example, not a <filename>/mnt/server/archivedir</>. (This is an example, not a
@ -562,17 +563,19 @@ archive_command = 'cp -i %p /mnt/server/archivedir/%f &lt;/dev/null'
preserve the integrity of your archive in case of administrator error preserve the integrity of your archive in case of administrator error
(such as sending the output of two different servers to the same archive (such as sending the output of two different servers to the same archive
directory). directory).
</para>
<para>
It is advisable to test your proposed archive command to ensure that it It is advisable to test your proposed archive command to ensure that it
indeed does not overwrite an existing file, <emphasis>and that it returns indeed does not overwrite an existing file, <emphasis>and that it returns
nonzero status in this case</>. We have found that <literal>cp -i</> does nonzero status in this case</>.
this correctly on some platforms but not others. If the chosen command The example command above for Unix ensures this by including a separate
does not itself handle this case correctly, you should add a command <command>test</> step. On some Unix platforms, <command>cp</> has
to test for pre-existence of the archive file. For example, something switches such as <option>-i</> that can be used to do the same thing
like less verbosely, but you should not rely on these without verifying that
<programlisting> the right exit status is returned. (In particular, GNU <command>cp</>
archive_command = 'test ! -f .../%f &amp;&amp; cp %p .../%f' will return status zero when <option>-i</> is used and the target file
</programlisting> already exists, which is <emphasis>not</> the desired behavior.)
works correctly on most Unix variants.
</para> </para>
<para> <para>

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