Re: PostgreSQL upgrade -> fails to start server - Mailing list pgsql-general

From Sander Smeenk
Subject Re: PostgreSQL upgrade -> fails to start server
Date
Msg-id 20030829115614.GD25611@freshdot.net
Whole thread Raw
In response to Re: PostgreSQL upgrade -> fails to start server  (Martijn van Oosterhout <kleptog@svana.org>)
List pgsql-general
Quoting Martijn van Oosterhout (kleptog@svana.org):

> Ok, IIRC the reason you need to initdb is because indexes use your specific
> locale to work. Without knowing the locale, indexes can't be used.
> That said, it seems to be a bit strict to refuse to start the server.

I thought so too. But then I thought maybe the data stored inside the
database is affected by this locale setting too?

> In any case, there is a program pg_controldata which dumps the current
> locale. It may help to determine if you edit pg_control properly.

It's impossible to edit pg_control by hand with something like a hex
editor because it has checksums to verify it's integrity.

I'd need to create a program that constructs the pg_control internal
structure to change the locale stored inside.

> Once you can start it, pg_dumpall and restart.
> Ofcourse, if you have backups...

The data is not yet lost. It's still on my disk. It's just that the
postmaster won't start because of this locale-thing. To fix it I need
the postmaster running, and to get the postmaster running, I need to fix
it. It loops :)

> In any case, as a last resort you can try pgfsck. It ignores your
> locale and so may be able to recover some of your data.

I downloaded pgfsck and ran it over the database. According to pgfsck my
complete database is fscked-up and no data comes out of the tool's
effort. That is, I have not yet tried to turn the hex strings into ascii.

> Hope this helps,

I guess I need to find out how to construct my own pg_control file ;)

Sander.
--
| If you look like your passport picture, you probably need the trip.
| 1024D/08CEC94D - 34B3 3314 B146 E13C 70C8  9BDB D463 7E41 08CE C94D

Attachment

pgsql-general by date:

Previous
From: Steven Tower
Date:
Subject: Re: select taking forever
Next
From: Andrew Rawnsley
Date:
Subject: Re: erserver 1.2 problem