Re: Add recovery to pg_control and remove backup_label

On 10/26/23 17:27, David G. Johnston wrote:

> Can we not figure out some way to place the relevant files onto the
> server somewhere so that a simple "cp" command would work?  Have
> pg_backup_stop return paths instead of contents, those paths being
> "$TEMP_DIR"/<random unique new directory>/pg_control.conf (and
> tablespace_map)

Nobody has been able to figure this out, and some of us have been
thinking about it for years. It just doesn't seem possible to reliably
tell the difference between a cluster that was copied and one that
simply crashed.

If cp is really the backup tool being employed, I would recommend using
pg_basebackup. cp has flaws that could lead to corruption, and of course
does not at all take into account the archive required to make a backup
consistent, directories to be excluded, the order of copying pg_control
on backup from standy, etc., etc.