Thread: pgdump - What happens to data modifications (INSERT, UPDATE, DELETE) while pgdump is running?

If I run pgdump, and while it is running, execute INSERT, UPDATE, DELETE
commands, what will happen to the pgdump results?

- Is pgdump all contained in a single transaction, so it just gets the
'before' data state,
- Do some of the modifications end up in the dump, but not others depending
upon where the
  dump is at that exact moment?

The pgdump documentation is not clear on these transaction concurrency
issues.

Thanks, Jack

"Jack Kerkhof" <jack.kerkhof@guest-tek.com> writes:
> If I run pgdump, and while it is running, execute INSERT, UPDATE, DELETE
> commands, what will happen to the pgdump results?

Nothing.  pg_dump gives a consistent snapshot.

> The pgdump documentation is not clear on these transaction concurrency
> issues.

Yes it is:

:  pg_dump is a utility for backing up a PostgreSQL database. It makes
:  consistent backups even if the database is being used concurrently.

            regards, tom lane