Re: Why does the pg_dumpall command have a database option?

On 21/06/2019 14:32, Espresso Beanies wrote:
> Will it still dump all of the databases or just the one it connects to?
> 
> On Thu, Jun 20, 2019 at 4:13 PM Adrian Klaver <adrian.klaver@aklaver.com 
> <mailto:adrian.klaver@aklaver.com>> wrote:
> 
>     On 6/20/19 1:03 PM, Espresso Beanies wrote:
>      > I'm trying to see if someone could answer to me why the pg_dumpall
>      > command has a database option when it's designed to dump all the
>      > databases in a PostgreSQL server instance. I'm only asking
>     because when
>      > I create a .pgpass file and try to use the pg_dumpall command,
>     I'm still
>      > required to specify a specific database even though the command
>     itself
>      > should be targeting all databases. Can anyone explain this to me
>     a bit
>      > better?
>      >
>      > Thanks,
> 
>     Because pg_dumpall is a client and needs to connect to a database to
>     kick start the process/fetch global information:

It'll dump all the databases.

To expand on what Adrian said - PostgreSQL doesn't have a concept of 
connecting just to the server - you always have to connect to a specific 
database as well, no matter what you're actually doing. This is what the 
"postgres" database is mostly used for.

HTH,

Ray.

-- 
Raymond O'Donnell // Galway // Ireland
ray@rodonnell.ie