9.1.3 Standby catchup mode

I am wondering how the catchup mode of a hot synchron slave server works on 9.1.3 if there is no WAL archive.

Can the slave only request WALs that are still in the xlog directory of the master server? Or does the master regenerate some kind of fake log for the catchup mode? E.g. in case of a slave failure I could use a weekly backup and let the catchup mode do the rest? Or does that only work if you use WAL archive?

The Doc says the following:

"When a standby first attaches to the primary, it will not yet be properly synchronized. This is described as catchup mode. Once the lag between standby and primary reaches zero for the first time we move to real-time streaming state. The catch-up duration may be long immediately after the standby has been created."

I sounds as if the catchup mode has got magic powers, but I don't know if I'm readying the bible correctly.

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