>>>>> "Andres" == Andres Freund <andres@anarazel.de> writes:
>> Why did we invent "custom" format dumps instead of using a standard
>> container-file format like tar/cpio/zip/whatever?
Andres> Because they're either not all that simple, or don't random
Andres> read access inside. But that's just a guess, not fact.
A more significant factor is that tar (like most file archive formats)
doesn't allow streamed _write_ access - you need to know the size of
each archive member in advance, hence why -Ft has to copy each table to
a temp file and then copy that into the archive.
--
Andrew.
