The Hermit Hacker wrote:
>
> psql -c "vacuum analyze $i" <database>
^^^^^^^
It takes additional time and shouldn't be used in each run.
> > I was curious about your thoughts on the problem
> > with the corrupted index "FATAL 1:btree BTP_CHAIN was expected".
> > Was this a known bug in pre-6.3 versions? We have experienced
> > spurious postgres process core dumps. Can this corrupt the
> > indexes/db?
Yes. Core dumps and power off-s can break indices in all versions.
> > You suggested that we upgrade to 6.3 and I agree
> > that we will do this in the very near future. One
> > question regarding this. Is regular vacuuming still
> > a requirement in 6.3?
>
> regular vacuuming will always be a requirement, as it updates
> various statistics...but, one of the things that I believe is being looked
> into is having the database overwrite delete records, so that a vacuum
> isn't required to remove those records and shrink the database...
Required, currently.
Vadim
