Re: Superuser connect during smart shutdown

Jim Nasby <Jim.Nasby@BlueTreble.com> writes:
> Something else mentioned was that once you start a smart shutdown you
> have no good way (other than limited ps output) to see what the shutdown
> is waiting on. I'd like to have some way to get back into the database
> to see what's going on. Perhaps we could allow superusers to connect
> while waiting for shutdown.

I think this idea is going to founder on the fact that the postmaster
has no way to tell whether an incoming connection is for a superuser.
You don't find that out until you've connected to a database and run
a transaction (so you can read pg_authid).  And by that point, you've
already had a catastrophic impact on any attempt to shut things down.

> It would also be good to be able to abort a smart shutdown if you
> determine it was a bad idea.

That sounds possibly more feasible.

But TBH I suspect 95% of the problems here would vanish if smart
shutdown weren't the default ...
        regards, tom lane