Date: Wed, 15 Dec 2021 16:23:43 -0500
From: Bruce Momjian <bruce@momjian.us>
To: Tom Lane <tgl@sss.pgh.pa.us>
Cc: Justin Pryzby <pryzby@telsasoft.com>,
	pgsql-hackers@lists.postgresql.org
Subject: Re: pg_upgrade should truncate/remove its logs before running
Message-ID: <20211215212343.GE4440@momjian.us>
References: <20211212025017.GN17618@telsasoft.com>
 <20211215210916.GC4440@momjian.us>
 <711370.1639603043@sss.pgh.pa.us>
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii
Content-Disposition: inline
In-Reply-To: <711370.1639603043@sss.pgh.pa.us>
User-Agent: Mutt/1.10.1 (2018-07-13)
Archived-At: 
 <https://www.postgresql.org/message-id/20211215212343.GE4440%40momjian.us>
Precedence: bulk

On Wed, Dec 15, 2021 at 04:17:23PM -0500, Tom Lane wrote:
> Bruce Momjian <bruce@momjian.us> writes:
> > On Sat, Dec 11, 2021 at 08:50:17PM -0600, Justin Pryzby wrote:
> >> If pg_upgrade fails and is re-run, it appends to its logfiles, which is
> >> confusing since, if it fails again, it then looks like the original error
> >> recurred and wasn't fixed.  The "append" behavior dates back to 717f6d608.
> 
> > Uh, the database server doesn't erase its logs on crash/failure, so why
> > should pg_upgrade do that?
> 
> The server emits enough information so that it's not confusing:
> there are timestamps, and there's an identifiable startup line.
> pg_upgrade does neither.  If you don't want to truncate as
> Justin suggests, you should do that instead.
> 
> Personally I like the idea of making a timestamped subdirectory
> and dropping all the files in that, because the thing that most
> annoys *me* about pg_upgrade is the litter it leaves behind in
> $CWD.  A subdirectory would make it far easier to mop up the mess.

Yes, lot of litter.  Putting it in a subdirectory makes a lot of sense.
Justin, do you want to work on that patch, since you had an earlier
version to fix this?

-- 
  Bruce Momjian  <bruce@momjian.us>        https://momjian.us
  EDB                                      https://enterprisedb.com

  If only the physical world exists, free will is an illusion.