There is no way to tell pg_basebackup to "just compress the thing in a default way". You have to pick some number and then write -Z8 or something. I suppose that interface was copied from pg_dump, but there it's not that commonly used because the right formats are compressed by default.
I suggest we add an argument-less option -z that means "compress", and then -Z can be relegated to choosing the compression level. -- Sent via pgsql-hackers mailing list (pgsql-hackers@postgresql.org) To make changes to your subscription: http://www.postgresql.org/mailpref/pgsql-hackers
