Announce: Testers needed for revised pg_dump/pg_restore

If anybody out there is comfortable with using make, has the PG sources on
their machine, and is interested in testing a new version of pg_dump,
please let me know.

Details of the revised pg_dump, and new pg_restore are at the end of this
message.

Thanks,

Philip Warner.

-------------
The basic idea is to use pg_dump to dump an *entire* database, and then use
pg_restore to choose what is restored.

The salient features are as follows:

- pg_dump still used to dump database; all output is via new interface
(virtually all of the pg_dump code is changed, but not the logic). The
changes are relatively minor, all the same.

- the '-c' option is not used in pg-dump: it now dumps the commands to
delete the schema, and it is up to the user of pg_restore to decide if they
are output.

- the default output file format is stll text, but a new custom format
with compressed sections (the data dumps) is available via the '-Fc' flag.
It is NOT a text file.

- pg_restore reads the backup file and, depending on the options chosen,
produces a script (to stdout) that can be sent to psql.

- by default pg_restore outputs the schema/data in the order it was sent
from pg_dump, but the --oid flag will send the output in order of
increasing OID, and the --rearrange flag will put all 'non-parental' (??)
items at the end, after the data. (eg. indexes, acls, triggers etc).
Needless to say that the best results com from using both of these options.

- If the -c (clear) option is chosen in pg_restore, it also dumps the
'drop' commands in reverse order at the start of the script. This *should*
make it more reliable than dumping them when the item is defined. It also
means that triggers can be dropped.

- The --toc option shows a summary of the restore operation that would be
performed if the --toc were not there.

Please send me an email if you are interested and have the time to test them.

Thanks,

Philip Warner.


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Philip Warner                    |     __---_____
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