Re: [DOCS] Proposed doc-patch: Identifying the Current WAL file

2006-04-14 Thread Bruce Momjian
Richard Huxton wrote:
> Reading Tom's posting here:
> http://archives.postgresql.org/pgsql-general/2006-04/msg00499.php
> 
> I just realised we don't seem to mention this in the docs anywhere. I
> propose adding a short paragraph to 23.3.1
> http://www.postgresql.org/docs/8.1/static/backup-online.html#BACKUP-ONLINE-CAVEATS
> 
> After "Except in the case of retrying a failure, it will be called only
> once for any given file name."
> 
> To identify the current, partially-filled WAL segment, sort first by
> mtime and second by file name. That is, take the latest mtime among the
> properly-named files, breaking ties by taking the higher filename.

I am confused by this.  Why do both mtime and file name need to be
checked?

-- 
  Bruce Momjian   http://candle.pha.pa.us
  EnterpriseDBhttp://www.enterprisedb.com

  + If your life is a hard drive, Christ can be your backup. +

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Re: [DOCS] Proposed doc-patch: Identifying the Current WAL file

2006-04-14 Thread Tom Lane
Bruce Momjian  writes:
> Richard Huxton wrote:
>> To identify the current, partially-filled WAL segment, sort first by
>> mtime and second by file name. That is, take the latest mtime among the
>> properly-named files, breaking ties by taking the higher filename.

> I am confused by this.  Why do both mtime and file name need to be
> checked?

Because recycled WAL segments are renamed to have higher file names than
the currently-in-use segment.  So you can't depend on file name first.
However, shortly after a segment switch two WAL segments could have the
same mtime (to within whatever the mtime granularity is, typ. 1 second).

The proposed rule should be OK as long as checkpoints (and ensuing
renames) can't occur oftener than the mtime granularity.  If you're
checkpointing more than once a second, well, you need help ...

regards, tom lane

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