Re: "pg_ctl promote" exit status

May I propose the attached patch.

Points to note and possibly discuss:
(a) Only exit codes in do_* functions have been changed.
(b) The link to, and the version of, LSB specifications has been updated.
(c) A significant change is the exit code of do_stop() on stopping a
stopped server. Previous return is 1. Proposed return is 0. If this is
accepted, I would highly suggest a mention in the Release Notes.
(d) The exit code that raised this issue was the return of promoting a
promoted server. If promotion fails because the server is running but not
as standby, should that be considered a case of starting a started service,
or an application specific failure? I am equally weighted to opt for the
former, but have proposed differently in the patch.

On 23 October 2012 17:29, Robert Haas <robertmhaas(at)gmail(dot)com> wrote:

> On Tue, Oct 23, 2012 at 6:39 AM, Dhruv Ahuja <dhruvahuja(at)gmail(dot)com> wrote:
> > The "pg_ctl promote" command returns an exit code of 1 when the server
> > is not in standby mode, and the same exit code of 1 when the server
> > isn't started at all. The only difference at the time being is the
> > string output at the time, which FYI are...
> >
> > pg_ctl: cannot promote server; server is not in standby mode
> >
> > ...and...
> >
> > pg_ctl: PID file "/var/lib/pgsql/9.1/data/postmaster.pid" does not exist
> > Is server running?
> >
> > ...respectively.
> >
> > I am in the process of developing a clustering solution around luci
> > and rgmanager (in Red Hat EL 6) and for the time being, am basing it
> > off the string output. Maybe each different exit reason should have a
> > unique exit code, whatever my logic and approach to solving this
> > problem be?
>
> That doesn't seem like a bad idea. Got a patch?
>
> --
> Robert Haas
> EnterpriseDB: http://www.enterprisedb.com
> The Enterprise PostgreSQL Company
>