Re: PostgreSQL 7.4.16 is creating strange files under /var/lib/pgsql

Hello all,

I'm experiencing a weird issue where my postgresql is creating strange files
(all with the same size ~200MB) under /var/lib/pgsql. The filenames are like
"?" and "?default". Anyone knows if it's safe to remove those? because they
are eating my disk space on the /var partition.

Version: PostgreSQL 7.4.16 on i686-redhat-linux-gnu, compiled by GCC gcc
(GCC) 3.4.6 20060404 (Red Hat 3.4.6-3)

Any advices would be really appreciated.

*

Juan Sueiro*

On 7 October 2010 14:45, Juan Sueiro <jmsueiro(at)gmail(dot)com> wrote:
> Any advices would be really appreciated.

You should upgrade to a version of Postgres that is currently
supported right away.

--
Regards,
Peter Geoghegan

Juan Sueiro <jmsueiro(at)gmail(dot)com> writes:
> I'm experiencing a weird issue where my postgresql is creating strange files
> (all with the same size ~200MB) under /var/lib/pgsql. The filenames are like
> "?" and "?default".

Please be a little more explicit about what the filenames are, and where
they are. I presume there are not only two of them.

regards, tom lane

Tom,

Files are located under /var/lib/pgsql:

4 files with filename: "?"
1 file with filename: "??"
1 file with filename: "?default"
1 file with filename: "HELP?"
1 file with filename: "TNMP?"

Regards,

On Thu, Oct 7, 2010 at 11:17 AM, Tom Lane <tgl(at)sss(dot)pgh(dot)pa(dot)us> wrote:

> Juan Sueiro <jmsueiro(at)gmail(dot)com> writes:
> > I'm experiencing a weird issue where my postgresql is creating strange
> files
> > (all with the same size ~200MB) under /var/lib/pgsql. The filenames are
> like
> > "?" and "?default".
>
> Please be a little more explicit about what the filenames are, and where
> they are. I presume there are not only two of them.
>
> regards, tom lane
>

On Thu, Oct 7, 2010 at 9:45 AM, Juan Sueiro <jmsueiro(at)gmail(dot)com> wrote:
> Hello all,
> I'm experiencing a weird issue where my postgresql is creating strange files
> (all with the same size ~200MB) under /var/lib/pgsql. The filenames are like
> "?" and "?default". Anyone knows if it's safe to remove those? because they
> are eating my disk space on the /var partition.
> Version: PostgreSQL 7.4.16 on i686-redhat-linux-gnu, compiled by GCC gcc
> (GCC) 3.4.6 20060404 (Red Hat 3.4.6-3)
> Any advices would be really appreciated.

are you 100% sure the database made them? What's the unix mode/owner/etc?

merlin

Merlin,
I'm not sure about the unix mode/owner, the server is:

Red Hat Enterprise Linux AS release 4 (Nahant Update 5)
Linux linuxbox 2.6.9-55.ELsmp #1 SMP Fri Apr 20 17:03:35 EDT 2007 i686 i686
i386 GNU/Linux

Currently there are no other server applications/software running there. I
thought that maybe the postgresql could be creating the files because of the
specific /var/lib/pgsql path.

Regards,

*

Juan Sueiro | *(54911) 5663 9439

On Thu, Oct 7, 2010 at 11:53 AM, Merlin Moncure <mmoncure(at)gmail(dot)com> wrote:

> On Thu, Oct 7, 2010 at 9:45 AM, Juan Sueiro <jmsueiro(at)gmail(dot)com> wrote:
> > Hello all,
> > I'm experiencing a weird issue where my postgresql is creating strange
> files
> > (all with the same size ~200MB) under /var/lib/pgsql. The filenames are
> like
> > "?" and "?default". Anyone knows if it's safe to remove those? because
> they
> > are eating my disk space on the /var partition.
> > Version: PostgreSQL 7.4.16 on i686-redhat-linux-gnu, compiled by GCC gcc
> > (GCC) 3.4.6 20060404 (Red Hat 3.4.6-3)
> > Any advices would be really appreciated.
>
> are you 100% sure the database made them? What's the unix mode/owner/etc?
>
> merlin
>

Juan Sueiro <jmsueiro(at)gmail(dot)com> writes:
> I'm not sure about the unix mode/owner, the server is:

> Red Hat Enterprise Linux AS release 4 (Nahant Update 5)
> Linux linuxbox 2.6.9-55.ELsmp #1 SMP Fri Apr 20 17:03:35 EDT 2007 i686 i686
> i386 GNU/Linux

> Currently there are no other server applications/software running there. I
> thought that maybe the postgresql could be creating the files because of the
> specific /var/lib/pgsql path.

FWIW, I've never seen or heard of such a behavior before. I suspect
that the files are being made by some add-on code --- have you got any
custom C code, third-party modules, etc?

regards, tom lane

PS: BTW, running a three-year-old Red Hat release without any of the
subsequent updates doesn't seem like the sanest approach to system
administration. According to my changelogs, Red Hat shipped 7.4.16
for only about two months in the spring of 2007, and you're clearly
running an ancient kernel as well.

On 7/10/2010 10:28 PM, Juan Sueiro wrote:
> Tom,
>
> Files are located under /var/lib/pgsql:
>
> 4 files with filename: "?"

Where? They can't be in /var/lib/pgsql if there are four of them, so
they must be in subdirectories, right? Which ones?

> 1 file with filename: "??"
> 1 file with filename: "?default"
> 1 file with filename: "HELP?"
> 1 file with filename: "TNMP?"

To be more specific, it might be worth running:

find /var/lib/pgsql -ls

and copying out the lines of interest, rather than posting just the file
names with no permisisons/ownership/location information.

--
Craig Ringer

Tech-related writing at http://soapyfrogs.blogspot.com/

On Oct 7, 2010, at 9:02 PM, Craig Ringer wrote:

> Where? They can't be in /var/lib/pgsql if there are four of them, so they must be in subdirectories, right? Which ones?

Or they're created with odd characters which the user's shell/terminal/UI cannot display.

--
Scott Ribe
scott_ribe(at)elevated-dev(dot)com
http://www.elevated-dev.com/
(303) 722-0567 voice