vacuum full fills up disk - Mailing list pgsql-general

Hello,

I have a table with about 10 million tuples of which you can find the
definition below. I just did an update which filled in the ss_trav_tot
field for every tuple. Since the database will be read only (no updates),
I decided to reclaim disk space by running a vacuum full. However, the
process is slowly but surely filling up my disk. Does vacuum full make a
copy of the data, or why is this happening ?

I'm now at 88% of space used (up from about 75% when I started vacuum
full) and it is still rising. I don't know how long the process will still
take and whether it will fill up the entire disk.

So what should I do ? Wait and see ? Stop the vacuum full and do something
else ? If yes, what ?

Moritz

Here's the table definition:

   Column    |         Type         | Modifiers
-------------+----------------------+-----------
 id          | integer              | not null
 com_res     | integer              |
 parente     | smallint             |
 nb_p_men    | smallint             |
 a_naiss     | smallint             |
 m_naiss     | smallint             |
 j_naiss     | smallint             |
 nationalite | smallint             |
 sexe        | smallint             |
 etat_civil  | smallint             |
 lieu_naiss  | integer              |
 dom_1_avt   | integer              |
 ss_res      | character varying(4) |
 natio_nais  | smallint             |
 q2a_cat_p   | smallint             |
 q2b_rev_s   | character varying(2) |
 lieu_scol   | integer              |
 ag_der_sco  | smallint             |
 q7_dip_b    | smallint             |
 q7b1_prim   | smallint             |
 q7b2_seci   | smallint             |
 q7b3_secs   | smallint             |
 q7b4_pl_ex  | smallint             |
 q7b5_sup1   | smallint             |
 q7b5_sup2   | smallint             |
 q7b5_sup3   | smallint             |
 q8a_dip_e   | smallint             |
 q8b_d_etr   | character varying(3) |
 phd_sec     | smallint             |
 phd_sup1    | smallint             |
 phd_sup2    | smallint             |
 phd_etr     | smallint             |
 dep_dif_do  | smallint             |
 lieu_dep    | integer              |
 nb_traj_j   | smallint             |
 nb_jtraj_s  | smallint             |
 long_traj   | smallint             |
 moy_transp  | smallint             |
 h_dep_a     | integer              |
 tps_a       | smallint             |
 h_dep_r     | integer              |
 tps_r       | smallint             |
 com_trav    | integer              |
 q21_loc_tr  | smallint             |
 activ_nace  | integer              |
 prof        | integer              |
 prof2       | integer              |
 tps_plein   | smallint             |
 nb_h_sem    | smallint             |
 statut      | smallint             |
 nb_p_dge    | smallint             |
 type_rev    | smallint             |
 type_serv   | character varying(2) |
 contact_cl  | smallint             |
 type_mat    | smallint             |
 statut_acc  | smallint             |
 prof_isco   | smallint             |
 nace_2      | smallint             |
 ss_trav     | character varying(4) |
 ss_res_tot  | character varying(9) |
 ss_trav_tot | character varying(9) |
Indexes: idx_activnace_91,
         idx_anaiss_91,
         idx_comres_91,
         idx_comtrav_91,
         idx_domavt_91,
         idx_lieudep_91,
         idx_lieuscol_91,
         idx_lnaiss_91,
         idx_nace2_91,
         idx_nation_91,
         idx_nation_naiss_91,
         idx_phdetr_91,
         idx_phdsec_91,
         idx_phdsup1_91,
         idx_phdsup2_91,
         idx_prof2_91,
         idx_prof_91,
         idx_profisco_91,
         idx_ssres_91,
         idx_ssrestot_91,
         idx_sstrav_91
Primary key: rec91_pkey