Re: [patch] pg_copy - a command for reliable WAL archiving

On 2014-08-20 10:19:33 -0400, Tom Lane wrote:
> Andres Freund <andres@2ndquadrant.com> writes:
> > On 2014-08-20 09:50:56 -0400, Alvaro Herrera wrote:
> >> Andres Freund wrote:
> >>> Isn't this a solution looking for a problem? We're using tempfiles in
> >>> dozens of other places and I really don't see why this is the place to
> >>> stop doing so. Just copy to <dest>.tmp and move it into place.
> 
> >> The issue is what happens if there's a crash while the temp file is in
> >> the middle of being filled.
> 
> > The archive command will be be run again a couple seconds and remove the
> > half-filled temp file.
> 
> Alternatively, you could use the process PID as part of the temp file
> name; which is probably a good idea anyway.

I think that's actually worse, because nothing will clean up those
unless you explicitly scan for all <whatever>.$pid files, and somehow
kill them.

Greetings,

Andres Freund

-- Andres Freund                       http://www.2ndQuadrant.com/PostgreSQL Development, 24x7 Support, Training &
Services