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 4.98.2) (envelope-from ) id 1xBphZ-00000003PR4-1hnj for pgsql-docs@arkaria.postgresql.org; Wed, 30 Sep 2026 08:30:09 +0000 Received: from localhost ([127.0.0.1] helo=malur.postgresql.org) by malur.postgresql.org with esmtp (Exim 4.98.2) (envelope-from ) id 1xBphY-000000012xb-1UK5 for pgsql-docs@arkaria.postgresql.org; Wed, 30 Sep 2026 08:30:08 +0000 Received: from magus.postgresql.org ([2a02:c0:301:0:ffff::29]) by malur.postgresql.org with esmtps (TLS1.3) tls TLS_ECDHE_RSA_WITH_AES_256_GCM_SHA384 (Exim 4.98.2) (envelope-from ) id 1xBZpO-0000000FX6Z-0xpP for pgsql-docs@lists.postgresql.org; Tue, 29 Sep 2026 15:33:10 +0000 Received: from mail-pz2-x0e.google.com ([2607:f8b0:4864:3b::e]) by magus.postgresql.org with esmtps (TLS1.3) tls TLS_ECDHE_RSA_WITH_AES_128_GCM_SHA256 (Exim 4.98.2) (envelope-from ) id 1xBZpL-00000001wyO-3kFl for pgsql-docs@lists.postgresql.org; Tue, 29 Sep 2026 15:33:09 +0000 Received: by mail-pz2-x0e.google.com with SMTP id 41be03b00d2f7-cc4c08393b0so1899466a12.0 for ; Tue, 29 Sep 2026 08:33:07 -0700 (PDT) DKIM-Signature: v=1; a=rsa-sha256; c=relaxed/relaxed; d=gmail.com; s=20251104; t=1790695985; x=1791300785; darn=lists.postgresql.org; h=to:message-id:subject:date:mime-version:from :content-transfer-encoding:content-type:from:to:cc:subject:date :message-id:reply-to:content-type; bh=hzytbHKKuyiN3xUJv+QVgwLgBC2Lm/SdFX3RvDte3Zw=; b=Yg/PY/NyS9cR3Re91i6GY2gjTw54LHv4QAN579/n7Yp8aNremgIDC3t2ndCnp3PMAh iZuZN2kN/AGVKpPKMVYy7VapmE68P17XNFSxn/9Pzo4j9TSMFse3WgskymYGhnXTdJ/a kLMduIuYbiFlWrZGnvnhO6DaTU5vfogGDMWtnKNjtOQ97ztQJA6K630wlcVRCWi8cxq8 U4B8IdZFbALs5WpuVC76Y1DSnn28Gwa9DgCsccugT/rKpDsaKRHYmAAQxbeFCuTKUuXA nl7viwHlLfAbMBTh0Kniwt7iqU+EYo8iDVii2WK9RI/XVtGN7rAnsrsh9zFMAOaYyG+8 8jSQ== X-Google-DKIM-Signature: v=1; a=rsa-sha256; c=relaxed/relaxed; d=1e100.net; s=20260707; t=1790695985; x=1791300785; h=to:message-id:subject:date:mime-version:from :content-transfer-encoding:content-type:x-gm-gg:x-gm-message-state :from:to:cc:subject:date:message-id:reply-to:content-type; bh=hzytbHKKuyiN3xUJv+QVgwLgBC2Lm/SdFX3RvDte3Zw=; b=BfA8/m70LzJ1JZOpja+rpqCIKe3hsKFF2iINP/6IeSGlBUUVBF2mOM2PGCoKiJavQx jLDqxgI6ExXeieL2iW1hcCYcEKbh8jfLINyyYQyTh312rbfdKvA+GPVcbPU5Bml1zj9+ RpHUlIIvETK34b/gKxA5TMm92Ll7TuZ3KlFmZ48SqtC1blmo3sHx0OtpM5VGcq8hBhKq /gR5d/4wWqgk0KJpobRKrLfZl+LHhuv2U2L2BFKk8nlN1sUu5N59iHGgrurP6d+koZQj u+MEJ70qCWjdaznBw9k+4Hk9v1MOIoW2sPgLntYunWU+44Ua9wdzKtdhI3RGbArljSZO obPg== X-Gm-Message-State: AFq9FYLvzU9Yw4joBbg51VfivhI85vzKqMzr6iZCdjLtHcHa4x28X17y hl2BtR5qykR97/fBRQhwkyA5guEOVdwqmJRZnwrl6UNPYTzU2nF4sGEvQEU5FDj0 X-Gm-Gg: AYBFou1wUZcesQDIGOFGOX7bURRl0VVsHHMaFnW7hf2X0v39F4zjuANGjCfBvBdFdsw FIm/je7weand/iKALdmGriqzpalX2D4xVO0uxtg8oFzaJafAIH2FPfh8tCMzs4c78TBLtHDN2yD HgEI+rj+ikSnLn/+HGp4TZMTeeXHfnNMnqj9JK53kwTrkX2pbxPTX9RSU+8g0vKOR7y+wMrghyy Pt2H/L0D9scNM6DTSWndrAOFughjo0AtzKBhQyYDQrMdkaQOFJpPanc+lzrrS9XqQ5p1cNvFGhT Uvqtc99sfO+jKLqb/U++zGn9LZzQ5wMyj/UZHAeUu/BYr4oPayqBTXFPQQZZGY9LNST1rJixkOv T3C5Xw3y61V3w6isSiQZOEX+fGFyITVW2V+pcWtJz8J4GhBs9p46Ou9NaotMoXBbP4t+vHrJSHj W85PH6uRu+ziFBnmAVifMsxOzUKZE13+Ip2IXKUjBF/xgxEPGpIlxcpenhrcvTJcrZq7hJ58Iua CoQLJjlk/ivpS/fYlavtXQSf0fTbhtJ0ZVRsgt7 X-Received: by 2002:a17:90b:314e:b0:39e:6a81:5a90 with SMTP id 98e67ed59e1d1-3a098e37387mr14569312a91.36.1790695985321; Tue, 29 Sep 2026 08:33:05 -0700 (PDT) Received: from smtpclient.apple ([2401:4900:88db:b052:c811:4e8b:2b58:dfee]) by smtp.gmail.com with ESMTPSA id 98e67ed59e1d1-3a497edd76dsm6313714a91.7.2026.09.29.08.33.03 for (version=TLS1_3 cipher=TLS_AES_256_GCM_SHA384 bits=256/256); Tue, 29 Sep 2026 08:33:04 -0700 (PDT) Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable From: Toppr Tenali Mime-Version: 1.0 (1.0) Date: Tue, 29 Sep 2026 21:03:01 +0530 Subject: Clarify base backups and local pg_wal recycling Message-Id: <91E1FA52-66B0-44F5-91C6-17FF3B5D23AB@gmail.com> To: pgsql-docs@lists.postgresql.org X-Mailer: iPhone Mail (24A437) List-Id: List-Help: List-Subscribe: List-Post: List-Owner: List-Archive: Archived-At: Precedence: bulk Hello, I would like to suggest a clarification to the PostgreSQL documentation rega= rding base backups and local WAL recycling. The documentation explains separately that: - archived WAL required by a base backup can eventually be deleted once that= backup is safely archived - WAL segments in pg_wal can be recycled or removed after they are no longer= needed and, when archiving is enabled, have been successfully archived. However, I could not find an explicit statement about whether taking or comp= leting a base backup itself affects when WAL segments in the local pg_wal di= rectory become eligible for recycling/removal. Could the documentation explicitly clarify this relationship? This distincti= on is easy to miss when reading the base-backup and WAL-archiving sections t= ogether. Thank you. Best regards, Tenali