Re: Running OS-level programs from Postgres?

> Maybe this is a well duh kind of question, or maybe there's no
> straightforward way to do it, but is there any way that I could have a
> pg function initiate a process on the host system?
>
> Specifically I'd like to script an email to send off on an insert
> trigger, but the ability to initiate system processes in general seems
> like it would come in handy.
>
> My present need is for email notification; if there's a pg function or
> module that would handle this (I haven't turned up anything in my
> searches, but maybe I'm using the wrong search terms in the wrong
> places) I'd be OK for now, but I'd rather have the flexibility of
> starting whatever process a given circumstance calls for.

I've never done it, and while you can do it with the various pl languages,
you might also look into the notice/listen stuff.

That way your app doesn't have to wait for the process to finish, but can
send a notice which another server side app can listen for and do whatever
it needs to do.

http://www.postgresql.org/docs/current/static/sql-notify.html
http://www.postgresql.org/docs/current/static/sql-listen.html