Subject: Re: Deleting old archived WAL files
From: Simon Riggs <simon@2ndQuadrant.com>
To: Chander Ganesan <chander@otg-nc.com>
Cc: Jaume Sabater <jsabater@linuxsilo.net>, pgsql-admin@postgresql.org
In-Reply-To: <490A1668.6000107@otg-nc.com>
References: <21789212.1911225387845942.JavaMail.root@zimbra.linuxsilo.net>
	<490A1668.6000107@otg-nc.com>
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Date: Thu, 30 Oct 2008 21:26:28 +0000
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On Thu, 2008-10-30 at 16:17 -0400, Chander Ganesan wrote:

> Why?  If you haven't saved a backup that you made previously (using 
> pg_start_backup()), having archived wal files is useless.  I don't see
> why you just don't arbitrarily remove them immediately.
> 
> WAL files are useful when you have a "starting point" (i.e., a backup 
> made using the PITR backup method), and a set of WAL files generated 
> "after" the starting point. If you don't preserve the start point
> (i.e., the PITR backup) then the WAL files are basically useless.

They are still better than nothing at all. I haven't read the whole
thread, but suggesting deleting things like that makes me go all
twitchy. :-). Do a couple of proper backups and then delete em.

-- 
 Simon Riggs           www.2ndQuadrant.com
 PostgreSQL Training, Services and Support