postgres-ref.sgml

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$Header: /cvsroot/pgsql/doc/src/sgml/ref/postgres-ref.sgml,v 1.7 2000/03/27 17:14:43 thomas Exp $
Postgres documentation
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<refentry id="APP-POSTGRES">
 <refmeta>
  <refentrytitle id="APP-POSTGRES-TITLE">
   <application>postgres</application>
  </refentrytitle>
  <refmiscinfo>Application</refmiscinfo>
 </refmeta>
 <refnamediv>
  <refname>
   <application>postgres</application>
  </refname>
  <refpurpose>
   Run a <productname>Postgres</productname> single-user backend
  </refpurpose>
 </refnamediv>
 <refsynopsisdiv>
  <refsynopsisdivinfo>
   <date>1999-07-20</date>
  </refsynopsisdivinfo>
  <synopsis>
postgres [ <replaceable class="parameter">dbname</replaceable> ]
postgres [ -B <replaceable class="parameter">nBuffers</replaceable> ] [ -C ] [ -D <replaceable class="parameter">DataDir</replaceable> ] [ -E ] [ -F ]
   [ -O ] [ -Q ] [ -S <replaceable class="parameter">SortSize</replaceable> ] [ -d [ <replaceable class="parameter">DebugLevel</replaceable> ] ] [ -e ]
   [ -o ] [ <replaceable class="parameter">OutputFile</replaceable> ] [ -s ] [ -v <replaceable class="parameter">protocol</replaceable> ] [ <replaceable class="parameter">dbname</replaceable> ]
  </synopsis>

  <refsect2 id="R2-APP-POSTGRES-1">
   <refsect2info>
    <date>1999-05-19</date>
   </refsect2info>
   <title>
    Inputs
   </title>
   <para>
    <application>postgres</application> accepts the following command line arguments:
    
    <variablelist>
     <varlistentry>
      <term><replaceable class="parameter">dbname</replaceable></term>
      <listitem>
       <para>
	The optional argument
	<replaceable class="parameter">dbname</replaceable>
	specifies the name of the database to be accessed.
	<replaceable class="parameter">dbname</replaceable>
	defaults to the value of the
	<envar>USER</envar>
	environment variable.
       </para>
      </listitem>
     </varlistentry>

     <varlistentry>
      <term>-B <replaceable class="parameter">nBuffers</replaceable></term>
      <listitem>
       <para>
	If the backend is running under the 
	<application>postmaster</application>,
	<replaceable class="parameter">nBuffers</replaceable>
	is the number of shared-memory buffers that the
	<application>postmaster</application>
	has allocated for the backend server processes that it starts.  If the
	backend is running standalone, this specifies the number of buffers to
	allocate.  This value defaults to 64 buffers, where each buffer is 8k bytes
	(or whatever BLCKSZ is set to in config.h).
       </para>
      </listitem>
     </varlistentry>

     <varlistentry>
      <term>-C</term>
      <listitem>
       <para>
	Do not show the server version number.
       </para>
      </listitem>
     </varlistentry>

     <varlistentry>
      <term>-D <replaceable class="parameter">DataDir</replaceable></term>
      <listitem>
       <para>
	Specifies the directory to use as the root of the tree of database
	directories.  If -D is not given, the default data directory name is
	the value of the environment variable 
	<envar>PGDATA</envar>.
	If <envar>PGDATA</envar> is not set, then the directory used is
	<filename>$POSTGRESHOME/data</filename>.
	If neither environment variable is set and this command-line
	option is not specified, the default directory that was
	set at compile-time is used.
       </para>
      </listitem>
     </varlistentry>

     <varlistentry>
      <term>-E</term>
      <listitem>
       <para>
	Echo all queries.
       </para>
      </listitem>
     </varlistentry>

     <varlistentry>
      <term>-F</term>
      <listitem>
       <para>
	Disable an automatic <function>fsync()</function> call after each transaction.
	This option improves performance, but an operating system crash
	while a transaction is in progress may  cause the loss of
	the most recently entered data. Without the <function>fsync()</function> call
	the data is buffered by the operating system, and written to disk sometime later.
       </para>
      </listitem>
     </varlistentry>

     <varlistentry>
      <term>-O</term>
      <listitem>
       <para>
	Override restrictions, so system table structures can be modified.
	These tables are typically those with a leading "pg_" in the table name.
       </para>
      </listitem>
     </varlistentry>

     <varlistentry>
      <term>-Q</term>
      <listitem>
       <para>
	Specifies "quiet" mode.
       </para>
      </listitem>
     </varlistentry>

     <varlistentry>
      <term>-S <replaceable class="parameter">SortSize</replaceable></term>
      <listitem>
       <para>
	Specifies the amount of memory to be used by internal sorts and hashes
	before resorting to temporary disk files.  The value is specified in
	kilobytes, and defaults to 512 kilobytes.  Note that for a complex query,
	several sorts and/or hashes might be running in parallel, and each one
	will be allowed to use as much as
	<replaceable class="parameter">SortSize</replaceable> kilobytes
	before it starts to put data into temporary files.
       </para>
      </listitem>
     </varlistentry>

     <varlistentry>
      <term>-d [ <replaceable class="parameter">DebugLevel</replaceable> ]</term>
      <listitem>
       <para>
	The optional argument <replaceable class="parameter">DebugLevel</replaceable>
	determines the amount of debugging output the backend servers will
	produce.
	If <replaceable class="parameter">DebugLevel</replaceable>
	is one, the postmaster will trace all connection traffic,
	and nothing else.
	For levels two and higher,
	debugging is turned on in the backend process and the postmaster
	displays more information,
	including the backend environment and process traffic.
	Note that if no file is specified for backend servers to
	send their debugging output then this output will appear on the
	controlling tty of their parent <application>postmaster</application>.
       </para>
      </listitem>
     </varlistentry>

     <varlistentry>
      <term>-e</term>
      <listitem>
       <para>
	This option controls how dates are interpreted upon
	input to and output from the database.
	If the <option>-e</option>
	option is supplied, then dates passed to and from the frontend
	processes will be assumed to be in "European"
	format (<literal>DD-MM-YYYY</literal>),
	otherwise dates are assumed to be in
	"American" format (<literal>MM-DD-YYYY</literal>).
	Dates are accepted by the backend in a wide variety of formats,
	and for input dates this switch mostly affects the interpretation
	for ambiguous cases.
	See the <citetitle>PostgreSQL User's Guide</citetitle>
	for more information.
       </para>
      </listitem>
     </varlistentry>

     <varlistentry>
      <term>-o <replaceable class="parameter">OutputFile</replaceable></term>
      <listitem>
       <para>
	Sends all debugging and error output to 
	<replaceable class="parameter">OutputFile</replaceable>.
	If the backend is running under the <application>postmaster</application>,
	error messages are still sent to the frontend process as well as to
	<replaceable class="parameter">OutputFile</replaceable>,
	but debugging output is sent to the controlling tty of the
	<application>postmaster</application>
	(since only one file descriptor can be sent to an actual file).
       </para>
      </listitem>
     </varlistentry>

     <varlistentry>
      <term>-s</term>
      <listitem>
       <para>
	Print time information and other statistics at the end of each query.
	This is useful for benchmarking or for use in tuning the number of
	buffers.
       </para>
      </listitem>
     </varlistentry>

     <varlistentry>
      <term>-v <replaceable class="parameter">protocol</replaceable></term>
      <listitem>
       <para>
	Specifies the number of the frontend/backend protocol to be used for this
	particular session.
       </para>
      </listitem>
     </varlistentry>
    </variablelist>
   </para>

   <para>
    There are several other options that may be specified, used mainly
    for debugging purposes.  These are listed here only for the use by
    <productname>Postgres</productname> system developers.
    <emphasis>Use of any of these options is highly discouraged.</emphasis>
    Furthermore, any of these options may disappear or change at any time.
   </para>

   <para>
    These special-case options are:

    <variablelist>
     <varlistentry>
      <term>-A n|r|b|Q\fIn\fP|X\fIn\fP</term>
      <listitem>
       <para>
	This option generates a tremendous amount of output.
       </para>
     </listitem>
    </varlistentry>

     <varlistentry>
      <term>-L</term>
      <listitem>
       <para>
	Turns off the locking system.
       </para>
      </listitem>
     </varlistentry>

     <varlistentry>
      <term>-N</term>
      <listitem>
       <para>
	Disables use of newline as a query delimiter.
       </para>
      </listitem>
     </varlistentry>

     <varlistentry>
      <term>-f [ s | i | m | n | h ]</term>
      <listitem>
       <para>
	Forbids the use of particular scan and join methods:
	<literal>s</literal> and <literal>i</literal>
	disable sequential and index scans respectively, while
	<literal>n</literal>, <literal>m</literal>, and <literal>h</literal>
	disable nested-loop, merge and hash joins respectively.
	
	<note>
	 <para>
	  Neither sequential scans nor nested-loop joins can be disabled completely;
	  the <literal>-fs</literal> and <literal>-fn</literal>
	  options simply discourage the optimizer from using those
	  plan types if it has any other alternative.
	 </para>
	</note>
       </para>
      </listitem>
     </varlistentry>

     <varlistentry>
      <term>-i</term>
      <listitem>
       <para>
	Prevents query execution, but shows the plan tree.
       </para>
      </listitem>
     </varlistentry>

     <varlistentry>
      <term>-p <replaceable class="parameter">dbname</replaceable></term>
      <listitem>
       <para>
	Indicates to the backend server that it has been started by a 
	<application>postmaster</application>
	and make different assumptions about buffer pool management, file
	descriptors, etc.  Switches following -p are restricted to those
	considered "secure".
       </para>
      </listitem>
     </varlistentry>

     <varlistentry>
      <term>-t pa[rser] | pl[anner] | e[xecutor]</term>
      <listitem>
       <para>
	Print timing statistics for each query relating to each of the major
	system modules.  This option cannot be used with <option>-s</option>.
       </para>
      </listitem>
     </varlistentry>
    </variablelist>
   </para>
  </refsect2>

  <refsect2 id="R2-APP-POSTGRES-2">
   <refsect2info>
    <date>1999-05-19</date>
   </refsect2info>
   <title>
    Outputs
   </title>
   <para>
    Of the nigh-infinite number of error messages you may see when you
    execute the backend server directly, the most common will probably be:

    <variablelist>
     <varlistentry>
      <term><computeroutput>
semget: No space left on device
       </computeroutput></term>
      <listitem>
       <para>
	If you see this message, you should run the
	<application>ipcclean</application>
	command.  After doing this, try starting
	<application>postmaster</application>
	again.  If this still doesn't work, you probably need to configure
	your kernel for shared memory and semaphores as described in the
	installation notes.  If you have a kernel with particularly small shared memory
	and/or semaphore limits, you may have to reconfigure your kernel to increase
	its shared memory or semaphore parameters.

	<tip>
	 <para>
	  You may be able to postpone
	  reconfiguring your kernel by decreasing -B to reduce
	  <productname>Postgres</productname>' shared memory
	  consumption.
	 </para>
	</tip>
       </para>
      </listitem>
     </varlistentry>
    </variablelist>
   </para>
  </refsect2>
 </refsynopsisdiv>

 <refsect1 id="R1-APP-POSTGRES-1">
  <refsect1info>
   <date>1999-05-19</date>
  </refsect1info>
  <title>
   Description
  </title>

  <para>
   The Postgres backend server can be executed directly from the user shell.
   This should be done only while debugging by the DBA, and should not be
   done while other Postgres backends are being managed by a
   <application>postmaster</application>
   on this set of databases.
  </para>

  <para>
   Some of the switches explained here can be passed to the backend
   through the "database options" field of a connection request, and thus can be
   set for a particular backend without going to the trouble of restarting the
   postmaster.  This is particularly handy for debugging-related switches.
  </para>

  <para>
   The optional argument <replaceable class="parameter">dbname</replaceable>
   specifies the name of the database to be accessed.
   <replaceable class="parameter">dbname</replaceable>
   defaults to the value of the
   <envar>USER</envar> environment variable.
  </para>
 </refsect1>

 <refsect1 id="R1-APP-POSTGRES-2">
  <refsect1info>
   <date>1998-10-04</date>
  </refsect1info>
  <title>
   Notes
  </title>
  
  <para>
   Useful utilities for dealing with shared memory problems include
   <application>ipcs(1)</application>,
   <application>ipcrm(1</application>), and
   <application>ipcclean(1)</application>.
   See also <xref linkend="app-postmaster" endterm="app-postmaster-title">.
  </para>
 </refsect1>
</refentry>

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