The following bug has been logged online:
Bug reference: 3647
Logged by: Michael Charnoky
Email address: noky@nextbus.com
PostgreSQL version: 8.1.8
Operating system: Linux (Fedora Core 3) 2.6.17
Description: error message logged to stderr only, not redirect
logfile
Details:
I think I found a logging bug in PostgreSQL 8.1.8. Didn't see a mention
about a fix in the release notes for 8.1.9 or .10, so this is probably still
a bug.
Using:
log_destination = 'stderr'
redirect_stderr = on
If PostgreSQL fails to start (eg: the OS's SHMMAX wasn't set high enough to
handle the requested 'shared_buffers'), the error message gets logged to
stderr only and not the logfile in 'log_directory'. I would like to simply
redirect stderr to /dev/null and just rely on the logfiles, but am worried
that I might miss some error messages.
Here is an example. This was logged to stderr (captured to file) but not
the log file in 'log_directory'):
2007-10-01 08:07:49.857 PDT: FATAL: could not create shared memory segment:
Invalid argument
2007-10-01 08:07:49.857 PDT: DETAIL: Failed system call was
shmget(key=5432001, size=424984576, 03600).
2007-10-01 08:07:49.857 PDT: HINT: This error usually means that
PostgreSQL's request for a shared memory segment exceeded your kernel's
SHMMAX parameter. You can either reduce the request size or reconfigure the
kernel with larger SHMMAX. To reduce the request size (currently 424984576
bytes), reduce PostgreSQL's shared_buffers parameter (currently 50000)
and/or its max_connections parameter (currently 250).
If the request size is already small, it's possible that it is less
than your kernel's SHMMIN parameter, in which case raising the request size
or reconfiguring SHMMIN is called for.
The PostgreSQL documentation contains more information about shared
memory configuration.
