Re: Losing records when server hang

On Sun, Aug 08, 2004 at 08:36:36PM -0600, Scott Marlowe wrote:
> On Sun, 2004-08-08 at 19:43, lec wrote:

> > If I commit the following records 1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10 to the database
> > and the server hangs, I could lose records 5,6,7,8,9 but record 10 is
> > there.  How is this possible and do anyone know how Postgresql
> > physically writes the records?
>
> Assuming a properly function storage subsystem and a kernel that does
> not lie about fsync, this is not possible.

It is actually possible if he uses several backends to do the job, and
transaction inserting record 10 commits before the hang, and 5,6,7,8,9
don't.

If this is only one backend, then I'd love to see how did he do that.

--
Alvaro Herrera (<alvherre[@]dcc.uchile.cl>)
"The ability to monopolize a planet is insignificant
next to the power of the source"