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| author | Peter Eisentraut <peter@eisentraut.org> | 2024-07-31 07:57:47 +0200 |
|---|---|---|
| committer | Peter Eisentraut <peter@eisentraut.org> | 2024-07-31 07:57:47 +0200 |
| commit | 4f29394ea941f688fd4faf7260d2c198931ca797 (patch) | |
| tree | 38169b50041091d1bb21e434b7f078e61ef44462 /doc/src | |
| parent | 73275f093f8969f4d2353fcc803377350aa650f6 (diff) | |
| download | postgresql-4f29394ea941f688fd4faf7260d2c198931ca797.tar.gz postgresql-4f29394ea941f688fd4faf7260d2c198931ca797.zip | |
doc: Avoid too prominent use of "backup" on pg_dump man page
Some users inadvertently rely on pg_dump as their primary backup tool,
when better solutions exist. The pg_dump man page is arguably
misleading in that it starts with
"pg_dump is a utility for backing up a PostgreSQL database."
This tones this down a little bit, by replacing most uses of "backup"
with "export" and adding a short note that pg_dump is not a
general-purpose backup tool.
Discussion: https://www.postgresql.org/message-id/flat/70b48475-7706-4268-990d-fd522b038d96%40eisentraut.org
Diffstat (limited to 'doc/src')
| -rw-r--r-- | doc/src/sgml/ref/pg_dump.sgml | 12 | ||||
| -rw-r--r-- | doc/src/sgml/ref/pg_restore.sgml | 2 |
2 files changed, 9 insertions, 5 deletions
diff --git a/doc/src/sgml/ref/pg_dump.sgml b/doc/src/sgml/ref/pg_dump.sgml index b95ed875176..1010d817f18 100644 --- a/doc/src/sgml/ref/pg_dump.sgml +++ b/doc/src/sgml/ref/pg_dump.sgml @@ -36,16 +36,20 @@ PostgreSQL documentation <title>Description</title> <para> - <application>pg_dump</application> is a utility for backing up a + <application>pg_dump</application> is a utility for exporting a <productname>PostgreSQL</productname> database. It makes consistent - backups even if the database is being used concurrently. + exports even if the database is being used concurrently. <application>pg_dump</application> does not block other users accessing the database (readers or writers). + Note, however, that except in simple cases, + <application>pg_dump</application> is generally not the right choice for + taking regular backups of production databases. See <xref + linkend="backup"/> for further discussion. </para> <para> <application>pg_dump</application> only dumps a single database. - To back up an entire cluster, or to back up global objects that are + To export an entire cluster, or to export global objects that are common to all databases in a cluster (such as roles and tablespaces), use <xref linkend="app-pg-dumpall"/>. </para> @@ -76,7 +80,7 @@ PostgreSQL documentation <application>pg_restore</application>, <application>pg_dump</application> provides a flexible archival and transfer mechanism. <application>pg_dump</application> can be used to - backup an entire database, then <application>pg_restore</application> + export an entire database, then <application>pg_restore</application> can be used to examine the archive and/or select which parts of the database are to be restored. The most flexible output file formats are the <quote>custom</quote> format (<option>-Fc</option>) and the diff --git a/doc/src/sgml/ref/pg_restore.sgml b/doc/src/sgml/ref/pg_restore.sgml index 2e3ba802581..b8b27e1719e 100644 --- a/doc/src/sgml/ref/pg_restore.sgml +++ b/doc/src/sgml/ref/pg_restore.sgml @@ -781,7 +781,7 @@ PostgreSQL documentation Require that each schema (<option>-n</option>/<option>--schema</option>) and table (<option>-t</option>/<option>--table</option>) qualifier match at - least one schema/table in the backup file. + least one schema/table in the file to be restored. </para> </listitem> </varlistentry> |