Received: from malur.postgresql.org ([217.196.149.56]) by arkaria.postgresql.org with esmtps (TLS1.3) tls TLS_ECDHE_RSA_WITH_AES_256_GCM_SHA384 (Exim 4.96) (envelope-from ) id 1wXngT-003UG8-0z for pgsql-docs@arkaria.postgresql.org; Thu, 11 Jun 2026 22:15:33 +0000 Received: from localhost ([127.0.0.1] helo=malur.postgresql.org) by malur.postgresql.org with esmtp (Exim 4.96) (envelope-from ) id 1wXnfR-00H72s-39 for pgsql-docs@arkaria.postgresql.org; Thu, 11 Jun 2026 22:14:29 +0000 Received: from makus.postgresql.org ([2001:4800:3e1:1::229]) by malur.postgresql.org with esmtps (TLS1.3) tls TLS_ECDHE_RSA_WITH_AES_256_GCM_SHA384 (Exim 4.96) (envelope-from ) id 1wXnfR-00H72j-2A for pgsql-docs@lists.postgresql.org; Thu, 11 Jun 2026 22:14:29 +0000 Received: from mail-dl1-x122f.google.com ([2607:f8b0:4864:20::122f]) by makus.postgresql.org with esmtps (TLS1.3) tls TLS_ECDHE_RSA_WITH_AES_128_GCM_SHA256 (Exim 4.98.2) (envelope-from ) id 1wXnfP-00000002FJB-2k2J for pgsql-docs@postgresql.org; Thu, 11 Jun 2026 22:14:28 +0000 Received: by mail-dl1-x122f.google.com with SMTP id a92af1059eb24-1363fe80fe8so495936c88.0 for ; Thu, 11 Jun 2026 15:14:27 -0700 (PDT) DKIM-Signature: v=1; a=rsa-sha256; c=relaxed/relaxed; d=j-davis-com.20251104.gappssmtp.com; s=20251104; t=1781216066; x=1781820866; darn=postgresql.org; h=mime-version:user-agent:content-transfer-encoding:date:to:from :subject:message-id:from:to:cc:subject:date:message-id:reply-to; bh=HpbS6hWzjK78I06n5q+Hl/Y7PZhtnFNGOBbsBaj1+GU=; b=uKoStGiiALN5VT7AIriDfGDqbOE9k+27VKQJZv1MUr/fcu1E+AAKNOfNqpJl3aQvmn OrssrXk4MpFopCZpFQ51tyC6HJz/AJsbtILi6nkUHrvBSoiFMTHEUIcfJwdveeS1APJQ Abxd9TbDLo6AcMgwgB2Qy2i8yUPH0dYlKHC95wTEN7wo1Mq0ri08Q5vSukNVOsiS2wYV G1PWPvO8dwyE0W8iYyFAUAlMtURpH8O0GIQ0/awgYd7PwFil+6V55mqb4NEhW2rMY9xI SkpTTrukxCAe+KHFQQL9GJ0SKwM7bTY8E3WHctQqsV9krXeKzi1QlrkjO+97LUUAc/j0 VCfw== X-Google-DKIM-Signature: v=1; a=rsa-sha256; c=relaxed/relaxed; d=1e100.net; s=20251104; t=1781216066; x=1781820866; h=mime-version:user-agent:content-transfer-encoding:date:to:from :subject:message-id:x-gm-gg:x-gm-message-state:from:to:cc:subject :date:message-id:reply-to; bh=HpbS6hWzjK78I06n5q+Hl/Y7PZhtnFNGOBbsBaj1+GU=; b=CiitM90Js6Rar0RqWfxzaBaY64r4eyDVWq0iN03evULrIeFI1B3rtGN0U2E3okdCk9 n3ET08VSjPbxkwm78xtyGj5IIyYc9/Gsx7OSep7W+A9dDscXMoCVOzoBw70/4KhwpzE9 xh2Y+5MsuISi1JYBg5Ad+gXv84Y8K46oitU6aWFBVAlw/EMMDYHIjngqmHIrmYlM9v9o 18x9eUGxGwmzq1ADks8i876VNhbHeuoxgFAtGlrQ0K2IyLtSxWdq8dhbAp8RFhY/GKWT Vba/yx4ehTz1unEU2gkGTiF5tCrIHrPvRe474Wnd2C7fTfa/uBU4jbbgN60O6r9/rbvt UqeA== X-Gm-Message-State: AOJu0Yyw9z4sOidlD/kQMVCdYyCkQjYaEyYTEZaIm+x1V7pBHpX2FKp2 zUJ6aHo/Gc0CdGdqgDo3IGW1qUG49glJw8b4n7iv8SPxDs5r89pwArAzEFv97ye9aOxqfUDEr0X RkJQ= X-Gm-Gg: Acq92OEsH4uZeL+7cDVYj4GYKGVuCSQlOB+Zy7ErRxctH45QjHIQZrqQTW/E8424UoI sDl/CNx3x1h6fScMcuv7TyX7rWrrwVgP/sMnqJepZhQLujw9wTb+kGY3xQws4jS14/flr+kD5NO Kt8cWjEyXgLkcP/Hd+cC46Hr5/KgGai99jpj+yxzCV+SCiCr1wQbVLPXqjHN06AMGexzQUdhSAp f7nGcdUkQZ2nQOc+NTegEBcDXCO2m8wn6GGwGZ3dJ4DclLJlZN92BS06PqmMj5Db9UpmP7+Zj4I tsfNeM+36ZkHjEdkIkshaF8qwRvIsIAFil+OP++Dm7hzmuDRuHnt2BaMCGMnG3kjPp3WTBBwLXd HxsJ8CFZl0PfJklU5Lkhq+NTeNy3ECkHC2zXHYsfo79BgROAjy8xu5aP6LrmekM//MFQSjbW9ke //vaskpcatXEAsehvYvRfWljM= X-Received: by 2002:a05:7301:4902:b0:2da:2ec2:64fe with SMTP id 5a478bee46e88-30820096392mr109714eec.24.1781216066304; Thu, 11 Jun 2026 15:14:26 -0700 (PDT) Received: from [10.10.245.117] ([50.175.226.11]) by smtp.gmail.com with ESMTPSA id 5a478bee46e88-3081e5cea89sm654180eec.8.2026.06.11.15.14.24 for (version=TLS1_3 cipher=TLS_AES_256_GCM_SHA384 bits=256/256); Thu, 11 Jun 2026 15:14:25 -0700 (PDT) Message-ID: <69e10667fe9835cf3bc7b88741cb48fcaf43fb4c.camel@j-davis.com> Subject: Terminology gaps around WAL From: Jeff Davis To: pgsql-docs@postgresql.org Date: Thu, 11 Jun 2026 15:14:24 -0700 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="UTF-8" Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable User-Agent: Evolution 3.52.3-0ubuntu1.1 MIME-Version: 1.0 List-Id: List-Help: List-Subscribe: List-Post: List-Owner: List-Archive: Archived-At: Precedence: bulk I sometimes struggle to come up with the right term for the following concepts, which come up a lot: * The abstract set of WAL records that all originate from a single initdb and share a system identifier; including all timelines, and including old records that may have been deleted a long time ago. * The "stuff" around that specific set of WAL records, such as running instances, warm standbys, PITR'd instances, inactive instances, base backups, and WAL archives. "Database cluster" doesn't fit either of these. The docs define it as "a collection of databases that is managed by a single instance of a running database server." [1] Do others already have good terms for these concepts? Is it worth trying to invent and document some? Regards, Jeff Davis [1] https://www.postgresql.org/docs/current/creating-cluster.html