In Karen Jex's presentation today at pgconf.dev [0] one of the examples
given was that users inadvertently rely on pg_dump as their primary
backup tool, when better solutions exist. The pg_dump man page is
arguably misleading in that it starts with
"pg_dump is a utility for backing up a PostgreSQL database."
I suggest toning this down a little bit. In the attached patch, I have
replaced most uses of "backup" with "export" and added a short note that
pg_dump is not a general-purpose backup tool.
Suggestions for word-smithing welcome.
[0]:
https://www.pgevents.ca/events/pgconfdev2024/schedule/session/126-how-postgres-is-misused-and-abused-in-the-wild/From dbf7c0785b9f2ddf85d19f3e41c22c72a600bb66 Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001
From: Peter Eisentraut <pe...@eisentraut.org>
Date: Wed, 29 May 2024 16:01:26 -0700
Subject: [PATCH] doc: Avoid too prominent use of "backup" on pg_dump man page
---
doc/src/sgml/ref/pg_dump.sgml | 12 ++++++++----
doc/src/sgml/ref/pg_restore.sgml | 2 +-
2 files changed, 9 insertions(+), 5 deletions(-)
diff --git a/doc/src/sgml/ref/pg_dump.sgml b/doc/src/sgml/ref/pg_dump.sgml
index 08d775379fd..af7949ee111 100644
--- a/doc/src/sgml/ref/pg_dump.sgml
+++ b/doc/src/sgml/ref/pg_dump.sgml
@@ -36,16 +36,20 @@
<title>Description</title>
<para>
- <application>pg_dump</application> is a utility for backing up a
+ <application>pg_dump</application> is a utility for exporting a
<productname>PostgreSQL</productname> database. It makes consistent
- backups even if the database is being used concurrently.
+ exports even if the database is being used concurrently.
<application>pg_dump</application> does not block other users
accessing the database (readers or writers).
+ Note, however, that except in simple cases,
+ <application>pg_dump</application> is generally not the right choice for
+ taking regular backups of production databases. See <xref
+ linkend="backup"/> for further discussion.
</para>
<para>
<application>pg_dump</application> only dumps a single database.
- To back up an entire cluster, or to back up global objects that are
+ To export an entire cluster, or to export global objects that are
common to all databases in a cluster (such as roles and tablespaces),
use <xref linkend="app-pg-dumpall"/>.
</para>
@@ -76,7 +80,7 @@ <title>Description</title>
<application>pg_restore</application>,
<application>pg_dump</application> provides a flexible archival and
transfer mechanism. <application>pg_dump</application> can be used to
- backup an entire database, then <application>pg_restore</application>
+ export an entire database, then <application>pg_restore</application>
can be used to examine the archive and/or select which parts of the
database are to be restored. The most flexible output file formats are
the <quote>custom</quote> format (<option>-Fc</option>) and the
diff --git a/doc/src/sgml/ref/pg_restore.sgml b/doc/src/sgml/ref/pg_restore.sgml
index 2e3ba802581..b8b27e1719e 100644
--- a/doc/src/sgml/ref/pg_restore.sgml
+++ b/doc/src/sgml/ref/pg_restore.sgml
@@ -781,7 +781,7 @@ <title>Options</title>
Require that each schema
(<option>-n</option>/<option>--schema</option>) and table
(<option>-t</option>/<option>--table</option>) qualifier match at
- least one schema/table in the backup file.
+ least one schema/table in the file to be restored.
</para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
--
2.45.1
