Re: [GENERAL] pg_upgrade --link on Windows - Mailing list pgsql-general

From Bruce Momjian
Subject Re: [GENERAL] pg_upgrade --link on Windows
Date
Msg-id 20170613200748.GB13879@momjian.us
Whole thread Raw
In response to Re: [GENERAL] pg_upgrade --link on Windows  (Adrian Klaver <adrian.klaver@aklaver.com>)
Responses Re: [GENERAL] pg_upgrade --link on Windows
Re: [DOCS] [GENERAL] pg_upgrade --link on Windows
List pgsql-general
On Fri, Jun  9, 2017 at 07:55:55AM -0700, Adrian Klaver wrote:
> On 06/09/2017 07:39 AM, Arnaud L. wrote:
> >See this page for more details :
> >http://cects.com/overview-to-understanding-hard-links-junction-points-and-symbolic-links-in-windows/
> >
> >
> >Under "Hard Link (Linking for individual files)" :
> >"If the target is deleted, its content is still available through the hard
> >link"
> >
> >Junction Point (Directory Hard Link):
> >"If the target is moved, renamed or deleted, the Junction Point still
> >exists, but points to a non-existing directory"
> >
> >BUT, when I try to "pg_upgrade --link --check" with old-data-dir and
> >new-data-dir on different volumes, I get an error saying that both
> >directories must be on the same volume if --link is used.
> >So maybe pg_upgrade uses hard-links (i.e. to files), and only the
> >documentation is wrong by calling them junctions (i.e. soft links to
> >files) ?
>
> Looks that way. In file.c in ~/src/bin/pg_upgrade I see:
>
> #ifdef WIN32
>  300 /* implementation of pg_link_file() on Windows */
>  301 static int
>  302 win32_pghardlink(const char *src, const char *dst)
>  303 {
>  304     /*
>  305      * CreateHardLinkA returns zero for failure
>  306      * http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/aa363860(VS.85).aspx
>  307      */
>  308     if (CreateHardLinkA(dst, src, NULL) == 0)
>  309     {
>  310         _dosmaperr(GetLastError());
>  311         return -1;
>  312     }
>  313     else
>  314         return 0;
>  315 }
>  316 #endif

[docs list added]

I apologize for not being smarter on this thread.  When I helped with
the Windows port, I was told Windows didn't have hard links for use by
tablespace directories, so I got it into my head that Windows didn't
have hard links.  Therefore, when I was writing the docs, I called them
junction points.

Looking back to Postgres 9.0 where pg_upgrade was added to the tree, I
see that the code even at that time used hard links on Windows.  I have
created the attached patch which I will apply to all current Postgres
versions to fix this error.

Thanks for the report and the research.  :-)

--
  Bruce Momjian  <bruce@momjian.us>        http://momjian.us
  EnterpriseDB                             http://enterprisedb.com

+ As you are, so once was I.  As I am, so you will be. +
+                      Ancient Roman grave inscription +

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