Date: Thu, 8 Jun 2006 12:23:27 -0400
From: Alvaro Herrera <alvherre@commandprompt.com>
To: "Jim C. Nasby" <jnasby@pervasive.com>
Cc: soni de <soni.de@gmail.com>, pgsql-performance@postgresql.org
Subject: Re: Regarding pg_dump utility
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	soni de <soni.de@gmail.com>, pgsql-performance@postgresql.org
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	<20060608151657.GL45331@pervasive.com>
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Jim C. Nasby wrote:
> On Thu, Jun 08, 2006 at 11:39:48AM +0530, soni de wrote:
> > We have to take a backup of database and we know the pg_dump utility of
> > postgresql.
> > 
> > But may I know, is there any API for this pg_dump utility so that we can
> > call it from the C program? Or only script support is possible for this.
>  
> It probably wouldn't be terribly difficult to put the guts of pg_dump
> into a library that you could interface with via C. I'm not sure if the
> community would accept such a patch; though, I seem to recall other
> people asking for this on occasion.

Personally I think it would be neat.  For example the admin-tool guys
would be able to get a dump without invoking an external program.
Second it would really be independent of core releases (other than being
tied to the output format.)  pg_dump would be just a simple caller of
such a library, and anyone else would be able to get dumps easily, in
whatever format.

-- 
Alvaro Herrera                                http://www.CommandPrompt.com/
PostgreSQL Replication, Consulting, Custom Development, 24x7 support