Re: WIP patch for parallel pg_dump

On Thu, Dec 2, 2010 at 7:21 PM, Andrew Dunstan <andrew(at)dunslane(dot)net> wrote:
>>>>> In the past, proposals for this have always been rejected on the
>>>>> grounds
>>>>> that it's impossible to assure a consistent dump if different
>>>>> connections are used to read different tables.  I fail to understand
>>>>> why that consideration can be allowed to go by the wayside now.
>>>> Well, snapshot cloning should allow that objection to be overcome, no?
>>> Possibly, but we need to see that patch first not second.
>> Yes, by all means let's allow the perfect to be the enemy of the good.
>>
>
> That seems like a bit of an easy shot. Requiring that parallel pg_dump
> produce a dump that is as consistent as non-parallel pg_dump currently
> produces isn't unreasonable. It's not stopping us moving forward, it's just
> not wanting to go backwards.

I certainly agree that would be nice. But if Joachim thought the
patch were useless without that, perhaps he wouldn't have bothered
writing it at this point. In fact, he doesn't think that, and he
mentioned the use cases he sees in his original post. But even
supposing you wouldn't personally find this useful in those
situations, how can you possibly say that HE wouldn't find it useful
in those situations? I understand that people sometimes show up here
and ask for ridiculous things, but I don't think we should be too
quick to attribute ridiculousness to regular contributors.

--
Robert Haas
EnterpriseDB: http://www.enterprisedb.com
The Enterprise PostgreSQL Company