Re: BUG #1224: Restarting postgres appends extra -D argument - Mailing list pgsql-bugs

I can confirm this bug report now.  I see it happens with:

    pg_ctl -D /u/pg/data restart

You have to use '-D' and 'restart' to cause -D to duplicate in
postmaster.opts on every restart.  It should be fixed because excessive
restarts could exceed the maximum command length, causing the server not
to restart.

The problem was actually introduced here:

    revision 1.31
    date: 2003/02/14 22:18:25;  author: momjian;  state: Exp;  lines: +7 -4
    Propogate pg_ctl -D to the postmaster as a -D flag for identification by
    ps for multiple postmasters, for Kevin Brown.

It added -D to the command line so 'ps' showed it, rather than just
passing it via PGDATA.  Of course on restart we should not be adding it
again.

I am attaching a patch which fixes the problem by not adding the -D
display addition when doing a restart.  It is not needed for restart
because the -D comes from the postmaster.opts file.

We are packaging 7.4.5 now so I will wait to apply this after the
release.

Looking at 8.0 CVS, I see we are no longer adding the -D argument to
postmaster start, meaning 'ps' will not display the -D to distinguish
multiple postmasters.  Seems I should fix that too.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------

David Maggard wrote:
> I reinstalled 7.4.3 and it still occured.
> I then installed 7.4.5 and it still occured.
>
> I went thru pg_ctl and believe I found why it is happening, the -D that is
> given to pg_ctl is appended to what is in postmaster.opts, I created a html
> file that should show you what I found, it is located at:
> http://www.intertelmark.com/linux/pg_ctlbug.htm
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "Bruce Momjian" <pgman@candle.pha.pa.us>
> To: "David Maggard" <drm31415@charter.net>
> Cc: <pgsql-bugs@postgresql.org>
> Sent: Wednesday, August 18, 2004 9:15 PM
> Subject: Re: [BUGS] BUG #1224: Restarting postgres appends extra -D argument
>
>
> >
> > I can't reproduce this problem on 7.4.4, and I don't see any changes
> > that were made between 7.4.3 to 7.4.4.  We had this bug, but it was
> > fixed in 2001.
> >
> > The pg_ctl arguments are kept in /data/postmaster.opts.  Can you show a
> > reproducable test case?
> >
> > --------------------------------------------------------------------------
> -
> >
> > PostgreSQL Bugs List wrote:
> > >
> > > The following bug has been logged online:
> > >
> > > Bug reference:      1224
> > > Logged by:          David Maggard
> > >
> > > Email address:      drm31415@charter.net
> > >
> > > PostgreSQL version: 7.4.3
> > >
> > > Operating system:   Redhat Enterprise Linux ES 3.0 Update 1
> > >
> > > Description:        Restarting postgres appends extra -D argument
> > >
> > > Details:
> > >
> > > I installed from the src, I am using
> > > /postgresql-7.4.3/contrib/startup-scripts/linux, I have found that
> > > restarting postgresql via the sysV script or pg_ctl like either of the
> > > following:
> > > service postgres restart
> > > pg_ctl restart -D /usr/local/pgsql/data
> > >
> > > results in an extra '-D /usr/local/pgsql/data' being appended each time
> it
> > > is done, you can see this by running either of the following after each
> > > restart:
> > > service postgres status
> > > pg_ctl status -D /usr/local/pgsql/data
> > >
> > > this isn't a problem for me, but I thought it might be a potential
> problem
> > > for someone else
> > >
> > >
> > >
> > > ---------------------------(end of broadcast)---------------------------
> > > TIP 9: the planner will ignore your desire to choose an index scan if
> your
> > >       joining column's datatypes do not match
> > >
> >
> > --
> >   Bruce Momjian                        |  http://candle.pha.pa.us
> >   pgman@candle.pha.pa.us               |  (610) 359-1001
> >   +  If your life is a hard drive,     |  13 Roberts Road
> >   +  Christ can be your backup.        |  Newtown Square, Pennsylvania
> 19073
>

--
  Bruce Momjian                        |  http://candle.pha.pa.us
  pgman@candle.pha.pa.us               |  (610) 359-1001
  +  If your life is a hard drive,     |  13 Roberts Road
  +  Christ can be your backup.        |  Newtown Square, Pennsylvania 19073
Index: src/bin/pg_ctl/pg_ctl.sh
===================================================================
RCS file: /cvsroot/pgsql-server/src/bin/pg_ctl/Attic/pg_ctl.sh,v
retrieving revision 1.36
diff -c -c -r1.36 pg_ctl.sh
*** src/bin/pg_ctl/pg_ctl.sh    14 Aug 2003 18:56:41 -0000    1.36
--- src/bin/pg_ctl/pg_ctl.sh    20 Aug 2004 01:38:57 -0000
***************
*** 8,14 ****
  #
  #
  # IDENTIFICATION
! #    $Header: /cvsroot/pgsql-server/src/bin/pg_ctl/Attic/pg_ctl.sh,v 1.36 2003/08/14 18:56:41 tgl Exp $
  #
  #-------------------------------------------------------------------------

--- 8,14 ----
  #
  #
  # IDENTIFICATION
! #    $Header: /cvsroot/pgsql-server/src/bin/pg_ctl/pg_ctl.sh,v 1.36 2003/08/14 18:56:41 tgl Exp $
  #
  #-------------------------------------------------------------------------

***************
*** 238,243 ****
--- 238,248 ----
      wait=no
  fi

+ # Prevent duplicate of -D flags on each restart
+ if [ "$op" = "restart" ];then
+     PGDATAOPTS=""
+ fi
+
  DEFPOSTOPTS=$PGDATA/postmaster.opts.default
  POSTOPTSFILE=$PGDATA/postmaster.opts
  PIDFILE=$PGDATA/postmaster.pid