Re: FATAL: lock file "postmaster.pid" already exists

deepak <deepak.pn@gmail.com> writes:
> We could reproduce the start-up problem on Windows 2003. After a reboot,
> postmaster, in its start-up sequence cleans up old temporary files, and
> this step used to take several minutes (a little over 4 minutes), delaying
> the writing of line 6 onwards into the PID file. This delay caused pg_ctl
> to timeout, leaving behind an orphaned postgres.exe process (which
> eventually forks off many other postgres.exe processes).

Hmm.  It's easy enough to postpone temp file cleanup till after the
postmaster's PID file is completely written, so I've committed a patch
for that.  However, I find it mildly astonishing that such cleanup could
take multiple minutes.  What are you using for storage, a man with an
abacus?

            regards, tom lane