Subject: pgsql: pg_createsubscriber: Fix cleanup of publisher-side objects after

From: Fujii Masao <[email-masked]>
Date: Wed, 27 May 2026 01:36:43 +0000

pg_createsubscriber: Fix cleanup of publisher-side objects after errors

When pg_createsubscriber fails after creating logical replication
objects, it should remove the publication and replication slot that
it created on the publisher.

Previously, if dropping subscriber-side objects failed,
pg_createsubscriber reset its internal cleanup state too early. As a
result, the exit-time cleanup could skip removing the publication or
replication slot on the publisher.

This could leave pg_createsubscriber-created objects behind on
the publisher after a failed run. That can make a retry harder,
because the leftover publication or replication slot may need to be
removed manually before running pg_createsubscriber again.
In the case of a replication slot, leaving it behind can also retain
WAL files longer than expected.

The cause of this issue was that the flags made_publication and
made_replslot tracking whether pg_createsubscriber created
a publication or replication slot on the primary were incorrectly
reset to false when failures occurred while dropping objects
on the subscriber.

This commit fixes the issue by preventing those cleanup flags from
being reset even when failures occurred while dropping objects
on the subscriber, ensuring proper cleanup of primary objects
before exit on failure.

Backpatch to v17, where pg_createsubscriber was added.

Author: Nisha Moond <[email-masked]>
Reviewed-by: David G. Johnston <[email-masked]>
Reviewed-by: Fujii Masao <[email-masked]>
Reviewed-by: Peter Smith <[email-masked]>
Discussion: https://postgr.es/m/CABdArM5V9QKK1PkLY9dpgAcZa3kUp84-wPqPovxvdLOri4=[email-masked]
Backpatch-through: 17

Branch
------
REL_17_STABLE

Details
-------
https://git.postgresql.org/pg/commitdiff/c03784a2181594d150c7f486308172dee19c5321

Modified Files
--------------
src/bin/pg_basebackup/pg_createsubscriber.c | 2 --
1 file changed, 2 deletions(-)