Re: WAL shipping with archive_timeout & pg_switch_xlog()

[Tom Lane <tgl(at)sss(dot)pgh(dot)pa(dot)us>]

wstrzalka <wstrzalka(at)gmail(dot)com> writes:
> archive_timeout is used for WAL shipping to standby server in my case
> (are there any other reasons?), but WAL is switched by the timeout
> even if there are no changes on the server.

This is intentional.  Some people consider the arrival of a new WAL file
to be a good heartbeat monitor, and they want to see one go by every
so many seconds whether the database is busy or not.

			regards, tom lane