Re: -f <output file> option for pg_dumpall

Peter Eisentraut wrote:
> Dave Page wrote:
>> In pgAdmin we use pg_dump's -f option to write backup files. The IO
>> streams are redirected to display status and errors etc. in the GUI.
>>
>> In order to enhance the interface to allow backup of entire clusters
>> as well as role and tablespace definitions, we need to be able to get
>> pg_dumpall to write it's output directly to a file in the same way,
>> because we cannot redirect the child pg_dump IO streams (which also
>> means we may miss errors, but I need to think about that some more).
>
> I don't understand this. Errors are sent to stderr, and the real output
> is sent to stdout, where you can capture and save it. What is the
> problem?
>

On Windows at least, I cannot redirect stdout/stderr of child processes,
only the parent (ie. pg_dumpall) that is executed by pgAdmin (the
pg_dump processes just seem to hang, and the debugger reports a deadlock
with no other useful info).

I'm sure there is a way round this but a) it'll probably mean hacking
wxWidgets or pg_dump about in ways I'm sure Vadim or Tom would dislike,
and b) it would seem reasonable to offer similar functionality in
pg_dumpall to that already in pg_dump anyway.

Regards, Dave.