Add recovery_target='immediate' option.

This allows ending recovery as a consistent state has been reached. Without
this, there was no easy way to e.g restore an online backup, without
replaying any extra WAL after the backup ended.

MauMau and me.

2 files changed, 33 insertions, 13 deletions

diff --git a/doc/src/sgml/backup.sgml b/doc/src/sgml/backup.sgml
index a2361d780fb..854b5fde41c 100644
--- a/doc/src/sgml/backup.sgml
+++ b/doc/src/sgml/backup.sgml
@@ -1124,7 +1124,7 @@ restore_command = 'cp /mnt/server/archivedir/%f %p'
    <para>
     If you want to recover to some previous point in time (say, right before
     the junior DBA dropped your main transaction table), just specify the
-    required stopping point in <filename>recovery.conf</>.  You can specify
+    required <link linkend="recovery-target-settings">stopping point</link> in <filename>recovery.conf</>.  You can specify
     the stop point, known as the <quote>recovery target</>, either by
     date/time, named restore point or by completion of a specific transaction
     ID.  As of this writing only the date/time and named restore point options
diff --git a/doc/src/sgml/recovery-config.sgml b/doc/src/sgml/recovery-config.sgml
index 550cdce6f99..b818197299d 100644
--- a/doc/src/sgml/recovery-config.sgml
+++ b/doc/src/sgml/recovery-config.sgml
@@ -199,8 +199,33 @@ restore_command = 'copy "C:\\server\\archivedir\\%f" "%p"'  # Windows
   <sect1 id="recovery-target-settings">
 
     <title>Recovery Target Settings</title>
+     <para>
+      By default, recovery will recover to the end of the WAL log. The
+      following parameters can be used to specify an earlier stopping point.
+      At most one of <varname>recovery_target</>,
+      <varname>recovery_target_name</>, <varname>recovery_target_time</>, or
+      <varname>recovery_target_xid</> can be specified. 
+     </para>
      <variablelist>
 
+     <varlistentry id="recovery-target" xreflabel="recovery_target_name">
+      <term><varname>recovery_target</varname><literal> = 'immediate'</literal></term>
+      <indexterm>
+        <primary><varname>recovery_target</> recovery parameter</primary>
+      </indexterm>
+      <listitem>
+       <para>
+        This parameter specifies that recovery should end as soon as a
+        consistency is reached, ie. as early as possible. When restoring from an
+        online backup, this means the point where taking the backup ended.
+       </para>
+       <para>
+        Technically, this is a string parameter, but <literal>'immediate'</>
+        is currently the only allowed value.
+       </para>
+      </listitem>
+     </varlistentry>
+
      <varlistentry id="recovery-target-name" xreflabel="recovery_target_name">
       <term><varname>recovery_target_name</varname>
            (<type>string</type>)
@@ -212,10 +237,6 @@ restore_command = 'copy "C:\\server\\archivedir\\%f" "%p"'  # Windows
        <para>
         This parameter specifies the named restore point, created with
         <function>pg_create_restore_point()</> to which recovery will proceed.
-        At most one of <varname>recovery_target_name</>,
-        <xref linkend="recovery-target-time"> or
-        <xref linkend="recovery-target-xid"> can be specified.  The default is to
-        recover to the end of the WAL log.
        </para>
       </listitem>
      </varlistentry>
@@ -231,10 +252,6 @@ restore_command = 'copy "C:\\server\\archivedir\\%f" "%p"'  # Windows
        <para>
         This parameter specifies the time stamp up to which recovery
         will proceed.
-        At most one of <varname>recovery_target_time</>,
-        <xref linkend="recovery-target-name"> or
-        <xref linkend="recovery-target-xid"> can be specified.
-        The default is to recover to the end of the WAL log.
         The precise stopping point is also influenced by
         <xref linkend="recovery-target-inclusive">.
        </para>
@@ -254,15 +271,18 @@ restore_command = 'copy "C:\\server\\archivedir\\%f" "%p"'  # Windows
         start, transactions can complete in a different numeric order.
         The transactions that will be recovered are those that committed
         before (and optionally including) the specified one.
-        At most one of <varname>recovery_target_xid</>,
-        <xref linkend="recovery-target-name"> or
-        <xref linkend="recovery-target-time"> can be specified.
-        The default is to recover to the end of the WAL log.
         The precise stopping point is also influenced by
         <xref linkend="recovery-target-inclusive">.
        </para>
       </listitem>
      </varlistentry>
+     </variablelist>
+     <para>
+       The following options further specify the recovery target, and affect
+       what happens when the target is reached:
+     </para>
+
+     <variablelist>
 
      <varlistentry id="recovery-target-inclusive"
                    xreflabel="recovery_target_inclusive">