Andreas Laggner <andreas(dot)laggner(at)vti(dot)bund(dot)de> writes:
> i cannot restore my data from 8.2 to 8.4 because i always get this error
> message, does anyone know what to do??
It sounds like you're trying to use pg_restore on a plain-text (SQL
script) dump file. Run it through psql, instead.
regards, tom lane