In case anyone else was following my problem and wanted to know how to resolve it, I'll post what the solution was...
I had a bunch of '/connect user' commands in my dump file causing the ident authentication errors. I took those out and the plpgsql stuff that I didn't need in the dump, and that restored everything fine to a new database, except that none of my web applications could get in. That was when i realized that I'd left out the authorization stuff in pg_hba.conf. When I added that, everything worked great.
I finally got a chance to try out your suggestions, but it seems that something I'm doing is still wrong.
When I try the first method described below, I get this error:
You are now connected as new user postgres.
ERROR: function plpgsql_call_handler already exists with same argument types
ERROR: Language plpgsql already exists
\connect: FATAL 1: IDENT authentication failed for user "cmortensen"
When I try the other method, I get this error:
pg_restore: [archiver (db)] could not execute query: ERROR: function plpgsql_call_handler already exists with same argument types
I get the impression that the problem is deeper than just trying to backup, but being a very green novice to Postgres, I'm not sure where to start tracking the problem to its source...
Thanks for all your help so far :)
-------- Original Message --------
Hi Curtis,
> thanks for the advice. i now have a different error. :(
I suspected you would, but without knowing the commands you were using
decided guessing would only be confusing! Only the archive formats
from pg_dump are intended to be used with pg_restore. The default
output can be restored by psql:
$ pg_dump fubar > fubar.sql
$ createdb fubar2
CREATE DATABASE
$ psql fubar2 < fubar.sql
You are now connected as new user giles.
CREATE
$
$ pg_dump --format=c fubar > fubar.dump
$ createdb fubar2
CREATE DATABASE
$ pg_restore --dbname=fubar2 < fubar.dump
pg_restore: [archiver] WARNING: Data restoration may fail because existing triggers cannot be disabled (no superuser user name specified). This is only a problem when restoring into a database with already existing triggers.
$
Regards,
Giles