Re: pg_dump and alter database

<btober(at)seaworthysys(dot)com> writes:
> I HAVE used pg_dumpall -g to make a backup of of users and groups, but
> this output does not include the ALTER DATABASE commands.

No, it looks like pg_dumpall dumps ALTER DATABASE operations for a
particular database when it dumps that database.

> Does the ALTER DATABASE command get written only when I do an
> unconditional pg_dumpall, i.e., produce a dump of all databases in the
> cluster? If that is the case, then I do think the feature ought to be
> included in pg_dump,

I think there were a couple of arguments for doing it this way. I can
see a permissions issue for one. pg_dumpall scripts assume they will be
run by superuser, but pg_dump scripts try to avoid that assumption.
Also, a pg_dump script doesn't (and shouldn't, IMHO) assume it knows the
name of the database it's being restored into.

Peter, do you recall any other issues?

regards, tom lane