Ron <ronljohnsonjr@gmail.com> writes:
> In 2019 using supported versions of PostgreSQL, what practical use is there
> to use the tar format, and -- other than migrating trivially sized databases
> to other RDBMSs -- the plain format?
The historical argument for the tar format is that you can get your
data out of it with a standard Unix tool (tar, of course), rather than
having to depend on the availability of pg_restore. Certainly there's
room to argue about how important that really is, but I don't think
the validity of the argument is much different than it was in 2001.
You need to be able to get a plain-text dump if you want to edit
the data or schema at all, which is a pretty common requirement.
However, as long as you're willing to assume the availability of
pg_restore, you can extract plain text from one of the other formats;
so this point isn't a reason not to make your dump in one of the
other formats to begin with.
regards, tom lane
