Hi Chao, Manu, Thanks both , that's a good correction. I didn't realize the summarizer backfills from the oldest WAL still on disk, so "summarization was not enabled" isn't really the trigger; it's WAL being recycled before summarization catches up. Dropping the conditional causes entirely also sidesteps the wal_level=minimal case not fitting them, as Manu pointed out.
v2 attached, using Chao's wording: HINT: Consider taking a new full backup to use as the basis for future incremental backups. Re-verified the summaries-removed path on master with the new wording. Manu, thanks also for independently confirming it on wal_level=minimal and that 007 still passes saves me chasing that path myself. Regards, Sai Pranav On Thu, Oct 8, 2026 at 3:04 PM Manu <[email protected]> wrote: > Hi Sai, > > I tried the patch on master (v1 applies cleanly, and 007 still passes > 3/3) and reproduced the error on several paths, including the > wal_level=minimal case via 007. The hint shows up in all of them. > > > Would a shorter "Take a new full backup." be preferable? > > I think there is a case for it. On the minimal path the hint still > fires, but its two causes do not really fit: summarize_wal is off there > only because minimal requires it -- the actual reason is that the > summarizer reaches that WAL and skips it on purpose (fast_forward) -- > and nothing was removed. And even in the main case the first cause is > more a symptom than the condition: with the WAL still on disk, enabling > summarize_wal after the full backup does not error, since the summarizer > backfills from the oldest WAL present; it only fails once that WAL has > been recycled before summarization caught up. > > So the remedy-only form you suggested reads correctly in all of them. > If you would rather keep naming the minimal case, there is existing > wording to mirror at xlog.c:6037: > > Use a backup taken after setting "wal_level" to higher than "minimal". > > Happy to share the repro script if it helps. > > Regards, > Manu >
v2-0001-Add-a-hint-to-the-WAL-summaries-are-required-erro.patch
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