In pg_upgrade, we reset WAL archives (remove WAL), transaction id,
etc. in copy_xact_xlog_xid() for the new cluster. Then, we create new
objects in the new cluster, and again towards the end of the upgrade
we invoke pg_resetwal with the -o option to reset the next OID. Now,
along with resetting the OID, pg_resetwal will again reset the WAL. I
am not sure if that is intentional and it may not have any problem
today except that it seems redundant to reset WAL again.
However, this can be problematic for the ongoing work to upgrade the
logical replication slots [1]. We want to create/migrate logical slots
in the new cluster before calling the final pg_resetwal (which resets
the next OID) to ensure that there is no new WAL inserted by
background processes or otherwise between resetwal location and
creation of slots. So, we thought that we would compute the next WAL
location by doing the computation similar to what pg_resetwal does to
reset a new WAL location, create slots using that location, and pass
the same to pg_resetwal using the -l option. However, that doesn't
work because pg_resetwal uses the passed -l option only as a hint but
can reset the later WAL if present which can remove the WAL position
we have decided as restart_lsn (point to start reading WAL) for slots.
So, we came up with another idea that we will reset the WAL just
before creating slots and use that location to create slots and then
invent a new option in pg_resetwal where it won't reset the WAL.
Now, as mentioned in the first paragraph, it seems we anyway don't
need to reset the WAL at the end when setting the next OID for the new
cluster with the -o option. If that is true, then I think even without
slots work it will be helpful to have such an option in pg_resetwal.
Thoughts?
[1] - https://commitfest.postgresql.org/45/4273/
--
With Regards,
Amit Kapila.
