Thread: pg_ctl man page
I have written a man page for pg_ctl. I will appreciate if someone would give me comments on it including grammatical corrections. -- Tatsuo Ishii NAME pg_ctl - starts/stops/restarts postmaster SYNOPSIS pg_ctl [-w][-D database_dir][-p path_to_postmaster][-o "postmaster_opts"] start pg_ctl [-w][-D database_dir][-m s[mart]|f[ast]|i[mmediate]] stop pg_ctl [-w][-D database_dir][-m s[mart]|f[ast]|i[mmediate]][-o "postmaster_opts"] restart pg_ctl [-D database_dir] status DESCRIPTION pg_ctl is a utility for starting, stopping or restarting postmaster. Starting postmaster To start postmaster: pg_ctl start If -w is supplied, pg_ctl waits for the database server comes up, checking the pid file (PGDATA/postmaster.pid) gets created, for up to 60 seconds. Parameters to invoke postmaster are taken from following sources: Path to postmaster: found in the command search path Database directory: PGDATA environment variable Other parameters: PGDATA/postmaster.opts.default postmaster.opts.default contains parameters for postmaster. With a default installation, it has a line "-S." So "pg_ctl start" implies: postmaster -S Note that postmaster.opts.default is installed by initdb from lib/postmaster.opts.default.sample under the PostgreSQL installation directory (lib/postmaster.opts.default.sample is copied from src/bin/pg_ctl/postmaster.opts.default.sample while installing PostgreSQL). To override default parameters you can use -D, -p and -o option. -D database_dirspecifies the database directory -p path_to_postmasterspecifies the path to postmaster -o "postmaster_opts"specifies any parameter for postmaster Examples: # blocks until postmaster comes up pg_ctl -w start # specifies postmaster path pg_ctl -p /usr/local/pgsq/bin/postmaster start # uses port 5433 and disables fsync pg_ctl -o "-o -F -p 5433" start Stopping postmaster pg_ctl stop stops postmaster. There are several options for the stopping mode. -wwaits for postmaster shutting down -m specifies the shutdown mode. s[mart] mode waits for all the clients get logged out. This is the default. f[ast] mode sends SIGTERM to the backends, that means active transactions get rollback. i[mmediate] mode sends SIGUSR1 to the backends and let them abort. In this case, database recovery will be neccessary on the next startup. Restarting postmaster This is almost equivalent to stopping postmaster then starting it again except that the parameters for postmaster used before stopping it would be used too. This is done by saving them in PGDATA/postmaster.opts file. -w, -D, -m, and -o can also be used in the restarting mode and they have same meanings as described above. Examples: # restarting postmaster in the simplest form pg_ctl restart # waiting for postmaster shutdown and waiting for postmaster coming up pg_ctl -w restart # uses port 5433 and disables fsync next time pg_ctl -o "-o -F -p 5433" restart Getting status from postmaster To get status information from postmaster: pg_ctl status Followings are sample outputs from pg_ctl. pg_ctl: postmaster is running (pid: 13718) options are: /usr/local/src/pgsql/current/bin/postmaster -p 5433 -D /usr/local/src/pgsql/current/data -B 64 -b /usr/local/src/pgsql/current/bin/postgres -N 32 -o '-F'
> I have written a man page for pg_ctl. I will appreciate if someone
> would give me comments on it including grammatical corrections.
I assume that this is intended for the main documentation set? Then
I'll be happy to convert this to sgml markup if you haven't done so or
do not know how. Also, I can make small changes to grammar etc at that
time.
You probably weren't asking about this, but...
The switch options "smart", "fast", and "immediate" are imho a bit too
general. I would suggest that "wait", "stop", and "abort" (or
something similar) might be better and more direct terms which would
come to mind for an admin. Though I see that you also have the concept
of "wait" wrt pg_ctl and the postmaster, to allow pg_ctl to return
immediately before the effects of the commands are seen. So maybe
"asychronous" or something similar could be applied to the
pg_ctl/postmaster relationship, leaving the other terms for the
pg_ctl/client relationship.
I would also suggest dropping "-m <opt>" style switches in favor of
specific flags, with the last flag specified taking precedence. I'm
not aware of other utilities having quite that same style.
- Thomas
> NAME
> pg_ctl - starts/stops/restarts postmaster
>
> SYNOPSIS
>
> pg_ctl [-w][-D database_dir][-p path_to_postmaster][-o "postmaster_opts"] start
> pg_ctl [-w][-D database_dir][-m s[mart]|f[ast]|i[mmediate]] stop
> pg_ctl [-w][-D database_dir][-m s[mart]|f[ast]|i[mmediate]][-o "postmaster_opts"] restart
> pg_ctl [-D database_dir] status
>
> DESCRIPTION
>
> pg_ctl is a utility for starting, stopping or restarting postmaster.
>
> Starting postmaster
>
> To start postmaster:
>
> pg_ctl start
>
> If -w is supplied, pg_ctl waits for the database server comes up,
> checking the pid file (PGDATA/postmaster.pid) gets created, for up to
> 60 seconds.
>
> Parameters to invoke postmaster are taken from following sources:
>
> Path to postmaster: found in the command search path
> Database directory: PGDATA environment variable
> Other parameters: PGDATA/postmaster.opts.default
>
> postmaster.opts.default contains parameters for postmaster. With a
> default installation, it has a line "-S." So "pg_ctl start" implies:
>
> postmaster -S
>
> Note that postmaster.opts.default is installed by initdb from
> lib/postmaster.opts.default.sample under the PostgreSQL installation
> directory (lib/postmaster.opts.default.sample is copied from
> src/bin/pg_ctl/postmaster.opts.default.sample while installing
> PostgreSQL).
>
> To override default parameters you can use -D, -p and -o option.
>
> -D database_dir
> specifies the database directory
>
> -p path_to_postmaster
> specifies the path to postmaster
>
> -o "postmaster_opts"
> specifies any parameter for postmaster
>
> Examples:
>
> # blocks until postmaster comes up
> pg_ctl -w start
>
> # specifies postmaster path
> pg_ctl -p /usr/local/pgsq/bin/postmaster start
>
> # uses port 5433 and disables fsync
> pg_ctl -o "-o -F -p 5433" start
>
> Stopping postmaster
>
> pg_ctl stop
>
> stops postmaster.
>
> There are several options for the stopping mode.
>
> -w
> waits for postmaster shutting down
>
> -m
> specifies the shutdown mode. s[mart] mode waits for all
> the clients get logged out. This is the default.
> f[ast] mode sends SIGTERM to the backends, that means
> active transactions get rollback. i[mmediate] mode sends SIGUSR1
> to the backends and let them abort. In this case, database recovery
> will be neccessary on the next startup.
>
> Restarting postmaster
>
> This is almost equivalent to stopping postmaster then starting it
> again except that the parameters for postmaster used before stopping
> it would be used too. This is done by saving them in
> PGDATA/postmaster.opts file. -w, -D, -m, and -o can also be used in
> the restarting mode and they have same meanings as described above.
>
> Examples:
>
> # restarting postmaster in the simplest form
> pg_ctl restart
>
> # waiting for postmaster shutdown and waiting for postmaster coming up
> pg_ctl -w restart
>
> # uses port 5433 and disables fsync next time
> pg_ctl -o "-o -F -p 5433" restart
>
> Getting status from postmaster
>
> To get status information from postmaster:
>
> pg_ctl status
>
> Followings are sample outputs from pg_ctl.
>
> pg_ctl: postmaster is running (pid: 13718)
> options are:
> /usr/local/src/pgsql/current/bin/postmaster
> -p 5433
> -D /usr/local/src/pgsql/current/data
> -B 64
> -b /usr/local/src/pgsql/current/bin/postgres
> -N 32
> -o '-F'
--
Thomas Lockhart lockhart@alumni.caltech.edu
South Pasadena, California
> > I have written a man page for pg_ctl. I will appreciate if someone > > would give me comments on it including grammatical corrections. > > I assume that this is intended for the main documentation set? Then > I'll be happy to convert this to sgml markup if you haven't done so or > do not know how. Also, I can make small changes to grammar etc at that > time. Oh, thank you very much! > You probably weren't asking about this, but... > > The switch options "smart", "fast", and "immediate" are imho a bit too > general. I would suggest that "wait", "stop", and "abort" (or > something similar) might be better and more direct terms which would > come to mind for an admin. Though I see that you also have the concept > of "wait" wrt pg_ctl and the postmaster, to allow pg_ctl to return > immediately before the effects of the commands are seen. So maybe > "asychronous" or something similar could be applied to the > pg_ctl/postmaster relationship, leaving the other terms for the > pg_ctl/client relationship. Talking about "smart/fast/immediate," I have refered to them from comments in postmaster.c probably written by Vadim. So before changing them I would like to hear from Vadim. Ok? > I would also suggest dropping "-m <opt>" style switches in favor of > specific flags, with the last flag specified taking precedence. I'm > not aware of other utilities having quite that same style. Sounds resonable. -- Tatsuo Ishii
I got grammer corrections from Ed Loehr. Also, I modified some option flag styles according to Thomas's suggestion. Thanks for those who gave me suggestions. Thomas, I have changed -m <opts> style to -smart, -fast... style. I hope this was what you meant. Also, please note that I still stick with smart/fast/immediate since I have been waiting for Vadim's opinion... Tatsuo Ishii ------------------------------------------------------------------- NAME pg_ctl - starts/stops/restarts postmaster SYNOPSIS pg_ctl [-w][-D database_dir][-p path_to_postmaster][-o "postmaster_opts"] start pg_ctl [-w][-D database_dir][-smart|-fast|-immediate] stop pg_ctl [-w][-D database_dir][-smart|-fast|-immediate][-o "postmaster_opts"] restart pg_ctl [-D database_dir] status DESCRIPTION pg_ctl is a utility for starting, stopping or restarting postmaster. Starting postmaster To start postmaster: pg_ctl start If -w is supplied, pg_ctl waits for the database server comes up, by watching for creation of the pid file (PGDATA/postmaster.pid), for up to 60 seconds. Parameters to invoke postmaster are taken from following sources: Path to postmaster: found in the command search path Database directory: PGDATA environment variable Other parameters: PGDATA/postmaster.opts.default postmaster.opts.default contains parameters for postmaster. With a default installation, the "-S" option is enabled. So "pg_ctl start" implies: postmaster -S Note that postmaster.opts.default is installed by initdb from lib/postmaster.opts.default.sample under the PostgreSQL installation directory (lib/postmaster.opts.default.sample is copied from src/bin/pg_ctl/postmaster.opts.default.sample while installing PostgreSQL). To override default parameters you can use -D, -p and -o options. -D database_dirspecifies the database directory -p path_to_postmasterspecifies the path to postmaster -o "postmaster_opts"specifies any parameters for postmaster Examples: # blocks until postmaster comes up pg_ctl -w start # specifies postmaster path pg_ctl -p /usr/local/pgsq/bin/postmaster start # uses port 5433 and disables fsync pg_ctl -o "-o -F -p 5433" start Stopping postmaster pg_ctl stop stops postmaster. There are several options for the stopping mode. -wwaits for postmaster to shut down -smart|-fast|-immediate specifies the shutdown mode. smart mode waits for all the clients to logout. This is thedefault. fast mode sends SIGTERM to the backends, that means active transactions get rolled back. immediatemode sends SIGUSR1 to the backends and lets them abort. In this case, database recovery will be neccessaryon the next startup. Restarting postmaster This is almost equivalent to stopping postmaster then starting it again except that the parameters for postmaster used before stopping it would be used too. This is done by saving them in PGDATA/postmaster.opts file. -w, -D, -smart, -fast, -immediate and -o can also be used in the restarting mode and they have same meanings as described above. Examples: # restarts postmaster in the simplest form pg_ctl restart # restarts postmaster, waiting for it to shut down and to come up pg_ctl -w restart # uses port 5433 and disables fsync next time pg_ctl -o "-o -F -p 5433" restart Getting status from postmaster To get status information from postmaster: pg_ctl status Following is sample outputs from pg_ctl. pg_ctl: postmaster is running (pid: 13718) options are: /usr/local/src/pgsql/current/bin/postmaster -p 5433 -D /usr/local/src/pgsql/current/data -B 64 -b /usr/local/src/pgsql/current/bin/postgres -N 32 -o '-F' ************
On 2000-02-07, Tatsuo Ishii mentioned: > I got grammer corrections from Ed Loehr. Also, I modified some option > flag styles according to Thomas's suggestion. Thanks for those who > gave me suggestions. > > Thomas, I have changed -m <opts> style to -smart, -fast... style. I > hope this was what you meant. Also, please note that I still stick > with smart/fast/immediate since I have been waiting for Vadim's > opinion... Ugh, that's not a compliant option style. What was wrong with -m <opt>? How about --smart, etc.? But 'single dash, multiple letters' is evil. -- Peter Eisentraut Sernanders väg 10:115 peter_e@gmx.net 75262 Uppsala http://yi.org/peter-e/ Sweden
> > I got grammer corrections from Ed Loehr. Also, I modified some option > > flag styles according to Thomas's suggestion. Thanks for those who > > gave me suggestions. > > > > Thomas, I have changed -m <opts> style to -smart, -fast... style. I > > hope this was what you meant. Also, please note that I still stick > > with smart/fast/immediate since I have been waiting for Vadim's > > opinion... > > Ugh, that's not a compliant option style. What was wrong with -m > <opt>? How about --smart, etc.? But 'single dash, multiple letters' is > evil. Oh, I'm confused now. Thomas, could you let me know what you think? Lamar is trying to use pg_ctl for his RPM project, and we need decision on that. -- Tatsuo Ishii
> > > Thomas, I have changed -m <opts> style to -smart, -fast... style. I
> > > hope this was what you meant. Also, please note that I still stick
> > > with smart/fast/immediate since I have been waiting for Vadim's
> > > opinion...
> > Ugh, that's not a compliant option style. What was wrong with -m
> > <opt>? How about --smart, etc.? But 'single dash, multiple letters' is
> > evil.
> Oh, I'm confused now. Thomas, could you let me know what you think?
> Lamar is trying to use pg_ctl for his RPM project, and we need
> decision on that.
Sorry, I didn't catch your question earlier. I agree with Peter that
we should choose single character switches with single dashes (e.g. -s
for "smart", -f for "fast", etc.) or --smart, --fast etc (or both
styles).
Hopefully we'll get some feedback from Vadim soon on the naming; istm
that the "smart", "fast", "immediate" is just too obscure or too
related to the developer's view of the implementation to be the right
choice for the user interface.
The switches and options should describe what they *do*, not what the
developer thought of them ;)
- Thomas
--
Thomas Lockhart lockhart@alumni.caltech.edu
South Pasadena, California
On Tue, 08 Feb 2000, Thomas Lockhart wrote: > > Oh, I'm confused now. Thomas, could you let me know what you think? > > Lamar is trying to use pg_ctl for his RPM project, and we need > > decision on that. > Sorry, I didn't catch your question earlier. I agree with Peter that > we should choose single character switches with single dashes (e.g. -s > for "smart", -f for "fast", etc.) or --smart, --fast etc (or both > styles). As for the RPM stuff, I can wait until it's ready easily enough -- if that's early or late in the beta cycle is immaterial -- I'm just trying to get a feel for the order I need to do things in. -- Lamar Owen WGCR Internet Radio 1 Peter 4:11
Beta testing is about to start, but I have not heard from Vadim what he thinks about "smart" etc yet. Time is up... So I decided to keep the options of pg_ctl as it is for coming 7.0. P.S. I have reverted back "-smart" to "-m smart" as Peter and Thomas suggested. If I have spare time, I would add "---" style options as well. My first priority is fixing bugs and writing documentaions about the multibyte support... -- Tatsuo Ishii ------------------------------------------------------------------- NAME pg_ctl - starts/stops/restarts postmaster SYNOPSIS pg_ctl [-w][-D database_dir][-p path_to_postmaster][-o "postmaster_opts"] start pg_ctl [-w][-D database_dir][-m [s[mart]|f[ast]|i[mmediate]]] stop pg_ctl [-w][-D database_dir][-m [s[mart]|f[ast]|i[mmediate]][-o "postmaster_opts"] restart pg_ctl [-D database_dir] status DESCRIPTION pg_ctl is a utility for starting, stopping or restarting postmaster. Starting postmaster To start postmaster: pg_ctl start If -w is supplied, pg_ctl waits for the database server comes up, by watching for creation of the pid file (PGDATA/postmaster.pid), for up to 60 seconds. Parameters to invoke postmaster are taken from following sources: Path to postmaster: found in the command search path Database directory: PGDATA environment variable Other parameters: PGDATA/postmaster.opts.default postmaster.opts.default contains parameters for postmaster. With a default installation, the "-S" option is enabled. So "pg_ctl start" implies: postmaster -S Note that postmaster.opts.default is installed by initdb from lib/postmaster.opts.default.sample under the PostgreSQL installation directory (lib/postmaster.opts.default.sample is copied from src/bin/pg_ctl/postmaster.opts.default.sample while installing PostgreSQL). To override default parameters you can use -D, -p and -o options. -D database_dirspecifies the database directory -p path_to_postmasterspecifies the path to postmaster -o "postmaster_opts"specifies any parameters for postmaster Examples: # blocks until postmaster comes up pg_ctl -w start # specifies postmaster path pg_ctl -p /usr/local/pgsq/bin/postmaster start # uses port 5433 and disables fsync pg_ctl -o "-o -F -p 5433" start Stopping postmaster pg_ctl stop stops postmaster. There are several options for the stopping mode. -wwaits for postmaster to shut down -m [s[mart]|f[ast]|i[mmediate]] specifies the shutdown mode. smart mode waits for all the clients to logout. Thisis the default. fast mode sends SIGTERM to the backends, that means active transactions get rolled back. immediatemode sends SIGUSR1 to the backends and lets them abort. In this case, database recovery will be neccessaryon the next startup. Restarting postmaster This is almost equivalent to stopping postmaster then starting it again except that the parameters for postmaster used before stopping it would be used too. This is done by saving them in PGDATA/postmaster.opts file. -w, -D, -m, -fast, -immediate and -o can also be used in the restarting mode and they have same meanings as described above. Examples: # restarts postmaster in the simplest form pg_ctl restart # restarts postmaster, waiting for it to shut down and to come up pg_ctl -w restart # uses port 5433 and disables fsync next time pg_ctl -o "-o -F -p 5433" restart Getting status from postmaster To get status information from postmaster: pg_ctl status Following is sample outputs from pg_ctl. pg_ctl: postmaster is running (pid: 13718) options are: /usr/local/src/pgsql/current/bin/postmaster -p 5433 -D /usr/local/src/pgsql/current/data -B 64 -b /usr/local/src/pgsql/current/bin/postgres -N 32 -o '-F' ************ ************