path: root/doc/src/sgml/ref/pg_ctl-ref.sgml

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Postgres documentation
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<refentry id="app-pg-ctl">
 <refmeta>
  <refentrytitle id="app-pg-ctl-title">
   <application>pg_ctl</application>
  </refentrytitle>
  <refmiscinfo>Application</refmiscinfo>
 </refmeta>

 <refnamediv>
  <refname>
   <application>pg_ctl</application>
  </refname>
  <refpurpose>
   Starts, stops, and restarts postmaster
  </refpurpose>
 </refnamediv>

 <refsynopsisdiv>
  <refsynopsisdivinfo>
   <date>2000-04-05</date>
  </refsynopsisdivinfo>

  <synopsis>
pg_ctl [-w] [-D <replaceable class="parameter">datadir</replaceable>][-p <replaceable class="parameter">path</replaceable>] [-o "<replaceable class="parameter">options</replaceable>"] start
pg_ctl [-w] [-D <replaceable class="parameter">datadir</replaceable>] [-m [s[mart]|f[ast]|i[mmediate]]] stop
pg_ctl [-w] [-D <replaceable class="parameter">datadir</replaceable>] [-m [s[mart]|f[ast]|i[mmediate]]
    [-o "<replaceable class="parameter">options</replaceable>"] restart
pg_ctl [-D <replaceable class="parameter">datadir</replaceable>] status
  </synopsis>

  <refsect2 id="R2-APP-PGCTL-1">
   <title>
    Inputs
   </title>
   <para>

    <variablelist>
     <varlistentry>
      <term>-w</term>
      <listitem>
       <para>
	Wait for the database server to come up, by
	watching for creation of the pid file (PGDATA/postmaster.pid).
	Times out after 60 seconds.
       </para>
      </listitem>
     </varlistentry>

     <varlistentry>
      <term>-D <replaceable class="parameter">datadir</replaceable></term>
      <listitem>
       <para>
	Specifies the database location for this database installation.
       </para>
      </listitem>
     </varlistentry>

     <varlistentry>
      <term>-p <replaceable class="parameter">path</replaceable></term>
      <listitem>
       <para>
	Specifies the path to the postmaster image.
       </para>
      </listitem>
     </varlistentry>

     <varlistentry>
      <term>-o "<replaceable class="parameter">options</replaceable>"</term>
      <listitem>
       <para>
        Specifies options to be passed directly to
	<application>postmaster</application>.
       </para>
       <para>
	The parameters are usually surrounded by single or double
	quotes to ensure that they are passed through as a group.
       </para>
      </listitem>
     </varlistentry>

     <varlistentry>
      <term>-m <replaceable class="parameter">mode</replaceable></term>
      <listitem>
       <para>
	Specifies the shutdown mode.

	<variablelist>
	 <varlistentry>
	  <term>smart</term>
	  <term>s</term>
	  <listitem>
	   <para>
	    smart mode waits for all
	    the clients to logout. This is the default.
	   </para>
	  </listitem>
	 </varlistentry>

	 <varlistentry>
	  <term>fast</term>
	  <term>f</term>
	  <listitem>
	   <para>
	    Fast mode sends SIGTERM to the backends; that means
	    active transactions get rolled back.
	   </para>
	  </listitem>
	 </varlistentry>

	 <varlistentry>
	  <term>immediate</term>
	  <term>i</term>
	  <listitem>
	   <para>
	    Immediate mode sends SIGUSR1
	    to the backends and lets them abort. In this case, database recovery
	    will be necessary on the next start-up.
	   </para>
	  </listitem>
	 </varlistentry>
	</variablelist>
       </para>
      </listitem>
     </varlistentry>

     <varlistentry>
      <term>start</term>
      <listitem>
       <para>
	Start up <application>postmaster</application>.
       </para>
      </listitem>
     </varlistentry>

     <varlistentry>
      <term>stop</term>
      <listitem>
       <para>
	Shut down <application>postmaster</application>.
       </para>
      </listitem>
     </varlistentry>

     <varlistentry>
      <term>restart</term>
      <listitem>
       <para>
	Restart the <application>postmaster</application>, performing
	a stop/start sequence.
       </para>
      </listitem>
     </varlistentry>

     <varlistentry>
      <term>status</term>
      <listitem>
       <para>
	Show the current state of <application>postmaster</application>.
       </para>
      </listitem>
     </varlistentry>
    </variablelist>
   </para>
  </refsect2>

  <refsect2 id="R2-APP-PGCTL-2">
   <refsect2info>
    <date>1999-11-07</date>
   </refsect2info>
   <title>
    Outputs
   </title>
   <para>
    <variablelist>
     <varlistentry>
      <term><computeroutput>pg_ctl: postmaster is <replaceable>state</replaceable> (pid: <replaceable>#</replaceable>)</computeroutput></term>
      <listitem>
       <para>
	Postmaster status.
       </para>
      </listitem>
     </varlistentry>
    </variablelist>

    If there is an error condition, the backend error message will be displayed.
   </para>
  </refsect2>
 </refsynopsisdiv>

 <refsect1 id="R1-APP-PGCTL-1">
  <title>
   Description
  </title>
  <para>
   <application>pg_ctl</application> is a utility for starting,
   stopping or restarting <application>postmaster</application>.
  </para>
 </refsect1>

 <refsect1 id="R1-APP-PGCTL-2">
  <title>
   Usage
  </title>

  <refsect2 id="R2-APP-PGCTL-3">
   <title>
    Starting postmaster
   </title>

   <para>
    To start up <application>postmaster</application>:

    <programlisting>
$ pg_ctl start
    </programlisting>
   </para>

   <para>
    If -w is supplied, pg_ctl waits for the database server to come up, by
    watching for creation of the pid file (PGDATA/postmaster.pid), for up
    to 60 seconds.
   </para>

   <para>
    Parameters to invoke <application>postmaster</application> are
    taken from the following sources:

    <itemizedlist>
     <listitem>
      <para>
       Path to postmaster: found in the command search path.
      </para>
     </listitem>

     <listitem>
      <para>
       Database directory: <envar>PGDATA</envar> environment variable.
      </para>
     </listitem>

     <listitem>
      <para>
       Other parameters:
       <filename><envar>PGDATA</envar>/postmaster.opts.default</filename>.
      </para>
     </listitem>
    </itemizedlist>
   </para>

   <para>
    <filename>postmaster.opts.default</filename> contains parameters
    for <application>postmaster</application>.
   </para>

   <para>
    Note that <filename>postmaster.opts.default</filename> is
    installed by <application>initdb</application> from
    <filename>lib/postmaster.opts.default.sample</filename>
    under the <productname>Postgres</productname> installation
    directory (<filename>lib/postmaster.opts.default.sample</filename>
    is copied from
    <filename>src/bin/pg_ctl/postmaster.opts.default.sample</filename>
    while installing <productname>Postgres</productname>).
   </para>

   <para>
    To override the default parameters you can use <option>-D</option>,
    <option>-p</option> and <option>-o</option> options.
   </para>

   <para>
    An example of starting the
    <application>postmaster</application>, blocking until
    postmaster comes up is:
    <programlisting>
$ pg_ctl -w start
    </programlisting>
   </para>

   <para>
    To specify the <application>postmaster</application> binary path,
    try:

    <programlisting>
$ pg_ctl -p /usr/local/pgsql/bin/postmaster start
    </programlisting>
   </para>

   <para>
    For a <application>postmaster</application> using port 5433, and
    running without <function>fsync</function>, use:

    <programlisting>
$ pg_ctl -o "-o -F -p 5433" start
    </programlisting>
   </para>
  </refsect2>

  <refsect2 id="R2-APP-PGCTL-4">
   <title>
    Stopping postmaster
   </title>
   <para>

    <programlisting>
$ pg_ctl stop
    </programlisting>

    stops postmaster. Using the <option>-m</option> switch allows one
    to control <emphasis>how</emphasis> the backend shuts down.
    <option>-w</option>
    waits for postmaster to shut down.
    <option>-m</option> specifies the shut down mode.
   </para>
  </refsect2>

  <refsect2 id="R2-APP-PGCTL-5">
   <title>
    Restarting postmaster
   </title>

   <para>
    This is almost equivalent to stopping the
    <application>postmaster</application> then starting it
    again except that the parameters used before stopping
    it would be used too. This is done by saving them in
    $<envar>PGDATA</envar>/postmaster.opts file.
    <option>-w</option>, <option>-D</option>, <option>-m</option>,
    <option>-fast</option>, <option>-immediate</option> and
    <option>-o</option> 
    can also be used in the restarting mode and they have the same meanings as
    described above.
   </para>

   <para>
    To restart <application>postmaster</application> in the simplest
    form:

    <programlisting>
$ pg_ctl restart
    </programlisting>
   </para>

   <para>
    To restart <application>postmaster</application>,
    waiting for it to shut down and to come up:

    <programlisting>
$ pg_ctl -w restart
    </programlisting>
   </para>

   <para>
    To restart using port 5433 and disabling fsync after restarting:

    <programlisting>
$ pg_ctl -o "-o -F -p 5433" restart
    </programlisting>
   </para>
  </refsect2>

  <refsect2 id="R2-APP-PGCTL-6">
   <title>
    postmaster status
   </title>

   <para>
    To get status information from postmaster:

    <programlisting>
$ pg_ctl status
    </programlisting>
   </para>

   <para>
    Here is a sample output from <application>pg_ctl</application>:

    <programlisting>
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'
    </programlisting>
   </para>
  </refsect2>
 </refsect1>
</refentry>

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