Re: Adding WHERE clause to pg_dump

On Fri, 2008-07-25 at 20:26 +0100, Simon Riggs wrote:
> On Fri, 2008-07-25 at 11:46 -0700, Joshua D. Drake wrote:
> > On Fri, 2008-07-25 at 19:33 +0100, Simon Riggs wrote:

> > > Adding this feature gives a very fast capability to create sample
> > > databases, or incremental backups for many cases.
> >
> > Not sure I buy this argument. I am all for usability and I would be the
> > first to shout about the general ridiculousness of pg_dump/all/restore
> > but in this case I think Tom is right. This feature could easily be done
> > in a script without harassing pg_dump.
>
> You can do it, yes. But it takes a lot longer. If the time to implement
> was similar, then I would immediately agree "feature available already".
>
> pg_dump is not "harassed" by this. What is lost by adding this feature?

Gained. Code complexity. Right now pg_dump does, copy. You are
introducing a whole other level of complexity by adding WHERE clause
capability. Secondly I don't think it would actually add anything but
complexity to the user.

How do we deal with this?

pg_dump -w "last_update_timestamp < ..." -t 'table*'

What I see is a recipe for inconsistent, un-restorable backups without a
user realizing what they have done. The only way to deal with the above
is:

1. Wildcards aren't allowed if you have -w
2. You dump everything, if the WHERE clause isn't relevant you just dump
the whole table

I don't like either.

I do see utility if you know what you are doing but I think it makes
more sense to have it outside of pg_dump.

Sincerely,

Joshua D. Drake

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