Re: pg_dump/pg_dumpall help synopses and terminology

Hi Peter,

On Tue, Jun 10, 2025 at 12:29 PM Peter Eisentraut <peter(at)eisentraut(dot)org>
wrote:

> How about this to bring it all together:
>
> pg_dump --help:
> pg_dump exports a PostgreSQL database as an SQL script or to other formats.
>
> pg_dumpall --help:
> pg_dumpall exports a PostgreSQL database cluster as an SQL script or to
> other formats.
>
> (Note: Uses the verb "export", to align with commit 4f29394ea94.)
>
> pg_restore --help: [unchanged]
> pg_restore restores PostgreSQL databases from archives created by
> pg_dump or pg_dumpall.
>
> man pages:
> pg_dump - export a PostgreSQL database as an SQL script or to other formats
> pg_dumpall - export a PostgreSQL database cluster as an SQL script or to
> other formats
>
> pg_restore - restore PostgreSQL databases from archives created by
> pg_dump or pg_dumpall
>

Since we are using "a PostgreSQL database" and "a PostgreSQL cluster" with
pg_dump and pg_dumpall respectively, it makes sense to use the same wording
for pg_restore. Th description at [1] already does that, except it needs
small tweaks like below:

pg_restore - restore a PostgreSQL database or a PostgreSQL cluster from an
archive created by
pg_dump or pg_dumpall respectively.

[1] https://www.postgresql.org/docs/18/app-pgrestore.html

--
Best Wishes,
Ashutosh Bapat