From: Tom Lane <tgl@sss.pgh.pa.us>
To: Magnus Hagander <magnus@hagander.net>
cc: Nathan Bossart <nathandbossart@gmail.com>,
        Andrew Dunstan <andrew@dunslane.net>,
        PostgreSQL-development <pgsql-hackers@postgresql.org>
Subject: Re: Non-text mode for pg_dumpall
In-reply-to: <CABUevEyMEaaY37_eMW76F97TX2voxdtPNkm3FGqN9c3ZHy3GMg@mail.gmail.com>
References: <cb103623-8ee6-4ba5-a2c9-f32e3a4933fa@dunslane.net> <ZmcKMF61K4Ck51dK@nathan> <CABUevExoQ26jo+aQ9QZq+UMA1aD6gfpm9xBnh_t5e0DhaCeRYA@mail.gmail.com> <ZmcVqPOGjoccIh-i@nathan> <CABUevEyMEaaY37_eMW76F97TX2voxdtPNkm3FGqN9c3ZHy3GMg@mail.gmail.com>
Comments: In-reply-to Magnus Hagander <magnus@hagander.net>
	message dated "Mon, 10 Jun 2024 17:45:19 +0200"
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Date: Mon, 10 Jun 2024 12:21:03 -0400
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Magnus Hagander <magnus@hagander.net> writes:
> On Mon, Jun 10, 2024 at 5:03 PM Nathan Bossart <nathandbossart@gmail.com>
> wrote:
>> Is there a particular advantage to that approach as opposed to just using
>> "directory" mode for everything?

> A gazillion files to deal with? Much easier to work with individual custom
> files if you're moving databases around and things like that.
> Much easier to monitor eg sizes/dates if you're using it for backups.

You can always tar up the directory tree after-the-fact if you want
one file.  Sure, that step's not parallelized, but I think we'd need
some non-parallelized copying to create such a file anyway.

			regards, tom lane