Attempting upgrade path; is this possible?

I'm in charge of a very large database, and we're using a highly decrepit version of Postgresql currently. After searching through the archives, Google, and trying out several replication engines, I have a question.

I had originally considered Slony-I, as it doesn't seem to require version compatibility between nodes like pgCluster, so upgrading from 7.4.2 to 8.1.3 would be a possible, if slow process. But after looking into the level of micro-management necessary, such as defining sets of every table on a per-database level, then having it add artificial primary-keys to applicable tables, it just doesn't seem like a good choice. Not a fault of Slony-I, but several multi-gig databases hosting hundreds of tables would be a nightmare to use with Slony-I.

Then I thought about the backup/recovery system and the WAL files. Would this scenario be possible:

1. Do a pg_dumpall on the existing database running 7.4.2.
2. Do a psql -f foo template1 on the new database running 8.1.3.
3. Wait a very long time while the new database loads.
4. Shut down old database.
5. Start the new database in restore mode, and point it to the WAL
files from the old database.
6. Wait for restore to finish.
7. Restart the new database.

I wondered about this, as the pg_dumpall/restore would take a very long time for a 50GB database cluster, but theoretically the WAL files would continue to accumulate on the old db while this loading was taking place. If the WAL formats were compatible, the total upgrade time would only be restricted to how long it took to replay the WAL files in the new database. Does the current format of the WAL files make this possible? If not, is such an option for the future?

Thanks in advance.
--

Shaun Thomas
Database Administrator
Leapfrog Online
847-440-8253

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