Subject: pg_standby supported versions

From: Mark Kirkwood <[email-masked]>
Date: Wed, 13 Aug 2008 21:59:26 +1200

I noticed in the docs for pg_standby (docs/src/sgml/pgstandby.sgml) that 
we have supported version >= 8.2. However it does seem to work ok with 
earlier versions (e.g 8.1) - or am I missing something?

cheers

Mark

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From: Decibel! <[email-masked]>
Date: Fri, 22 Aug 2008 00:50:00 -0500

On Aug 13, 2008, at 4:59 AM, Mark Kirkwood wrote:
> I noticed in the docs for pg_standby (docs/src/sgml/pgstandby.sgml)  
> that we have supported version >= 8.2. However it does seem to work  
> ok with earlier versions (e.g 8.1) - or am I missing something?

Hrm, AFAIK it works... Simon?
-- 
Decibel!, aka Jim C. Nasby, Database Architect  [email-masked]
Give your computer some brain candy! www.distributed.net Team #1828

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From: Simon Riggs <[email-masked]>
Date: Tue, 26 Aug 2008 10:30:30 +0100

> Hrm, AFAIK it works... Simon?

It works, yes. But in basic form only.

You'll have problems stopping and starting standby, but the most
important change is that the process is not restartable. So if you run
it for a month and then crash, you'll need to re-run the whole month's
WAL data.

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

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From: Mark Kirkwood <[email-masked]>
Date: Wed, 26 Nov 2008 22:14:58 +1300

> it for a month and then crash, you'll need to re-run the whole month's
Exactly, after posting this I discovered the relevant CVS logs for 
changes to support restartable recovery. It seems to me that perhaps a 
little more detail in the docs would be good here.

At work some folks are using pg_standby with 8.1 and while it does work 
quite well, it took me a wee while to figure out that some of the issues 
they are having are tied up with inability to continue recovery after 
restarting the database or the os!

Best wishes

Mark

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From: Simon Riggs <[email-masked]>
Date: Thu, 27 Nov 2008 17:11:42 +0000

> little more detail in the docs would be good here.

I would hope that the complete absence of anything would be all that is
required to dissuade people. We don't ever update the docs to say "BTW
feature X is not supported until next release". Not sure we should start
now.

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From: Mark Kirkwood <[email-masked]>
Date: Fri, 28 Nov 2008 07:56:09 +1300

> feature X is not supported until next release". Not sure we should start

While I understand, I also think it is perfectly reasonable to clarify 
why a specific minimum version is being recommended. To me this conforms 
to the open source spirit of telling folk why something is true, as 
opposed to stating that it is.

I'm thinking of something like:

<para>

pg_standby is designed to work with PostgreSQL 8.2 and later, as it 
requires the ability to interrupt and restart recovery (absent in 
earlier server versions).

</para>