The following bug has been logged online:

Bug reference: 1224
Logged by: David Maggard

Email address: drm31415 (AT) charter (DOT) net

PostgreSQL version: 7.4.3

Operating system: Redhat Enterprise Linux ES 3.0 Update 1

Description: Restarting postgres appends extra -D argument

Details:

I installed from the src, I am using
/postgresql-7.4.3/contrib/startup-scripts/linux, I have found that
restarting postgresql via the sysV script or pg_ctl like either of the
following:
service postgres restart
pg_ctl restart -D /usr/local/pgsql/data

results in an extra '-D /usr/local/pgsql/data' being appended each time it
is done, you can see this by running either of the following after each
restart:
service postgres status
pg_ctl status -D /usr/local/pgsql/data

this isn't a problem for me, but I thought it might be a potential problem
for someone else



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I can't reproduce this problem on 7.4.4, and I don't see any changes
that were made between 7.4.3 to 7.4.4. We had this bug, but it was
fixed in 2001.

The pg_ctl arguments are kept in /data/postmaster.opts. Can you show a
reproducable test case?

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--
Bruce Momjian | http://candle.pha.pa.us
pgman (AT) candle (DOT) pha.pa.us | (610) 359-1001
+ If your life is a hard drive, | 13 Roberts Road
+ Christ can be your backup. | Newtown Square, Pennsylvania 19073

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I can confirm this bug report now. I see it happens with:

pg_ctl -D /u/pg/data restart

You have to use '-D' and 'restart' to cause -D to duplicate in
postmaster.opts on every restart. It should be fixed because excessive
restarts could exceed the maximum command length, causing the server not
to restart.

The problem was actually introduced here:

revision 1.31
date: 2003/02/14 22:18:25; author: momjian; state: Exp; lines: +7 -4
Propogate pg_ctl -D to the postmaster as a -D flag for identification by
ps for multiple postmasters, for Kevin Brown.

It added -D to the command line so 'ps' showed it, rather than just
passing it via PGDATA. Of course on restart we should not be adding it
again.

I am attaching a patch which fixes the problem by not adding the -D
display addition when doing a restart. It is not needed for restart
because the -D comes from the postmaster.opts file.

We are packaging 7.4.5 now so I will wait to apply this after the
release.

Looking at 8.0 CVS, I see we are no longer adding the -D argument to
postmaster start, meaning 'ps' will not display the -D to distinguish
multiple postmasters. Seems I should fix that too.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------

David Maggard wrote:
--
Bruce Momjian | http://candle.pha.pa.us
pgman (AT) candle (DOT) pha.pa.us | (610) 359-1001
+ If your life is a hard drive, | 13 Roberts Road
+ Christ can be your backup. | Newtown Square, Pennsylvania 19073

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Index: src/bin/pg_ctl/pg_ctl.sh
================================================== =================
RCS file: /cvsroot/pgsql-server/src/bin/pg_ctl/Attic/pg_ctl.sh,v
retrieving revision 1.36
diff -c -c -r1.36 pg_ctl.sh
*** src/bin/pg_ctl/pg_ctl.sh 14 Aug 2003 18:56:41 -0000 1.36
--- src/bin/pg_ctl/pg_ctl.sh 20 Aug 2004 01:38:57 -0000
***************
*** 8,14 ****
#
#
# IDENTIFICATION
! # $Header: /cvsroot/pgsql-server/src/bin/pg_ctl/Attic/pg_ctl.sh,v 1.36 2003/08/14 18:56:41 tgl Exp $
#
#-------------------------------------------------------------------------

--- 8,14 ----
#
#
# IDENTIFICATION
! # $Header: /cvsroot/pgsql-server/src/bin/pg_ctl/pg_ctl.sh,v 1.36 2003/08/14 18:56:41 tgl Exp $
#
#-------------------------------------------------------------------------

***************
*** 238,243 ****
--- 238,248 ----
wait=no
fi

+ # Prevent duplicate of -D flags on each restart
+ if [ "$op" = "restart" ];then
+ PGDATAOPTS=""
+ fi
+
DEFPOSTOPTS=$PGDATA/postmaster.opts.default
POSTOPTSFILE=$PGDATA/postmaster.opts
PIDFILE=$PGDATA/postmaster.pid

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Bruce Momjian wrote:
Patch applied. It will appear in 7.4.6.

I have applied the following patch to propogate pg_ctl -D to the
postmaster command line. This worked in 7.4.X and should continue
working in 8.0.

--
Bruce Momjian | http://candle.pha.pa.us
pgman (AT) candle (DOT) pha.pa.us | (610) 359-1001
+ If your life is a hard drive, | 13 Roberts Road
+ Christ can be your backup. | Newtown Square, Pennsylvania 19073

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Index: src/bin/pg_ctl/pg_ctl.c
================================================== =================
RCS file: /cvsroot/pgsql-server/src/bin/pg_ctl/pg_ctl.c,v
retrieving revision 1.26
diff -c -c -r1.26 pg_ctl.c
*** src/bin/pg_ctl/pg_ctl.c 28 Aug 2004 21:01:38 -0000 1.26
--- src/bin/pg_ctl/pg_ctl.c 28 Aug 2004 21:57:29 -0000
***************
*** 67,72 ****
--- 67,73 ----
static int sig = SIGTERM; /* default */
static CtlCommand ctl_command = NO_COMMAND;
static char *pg_data = NULL;
+ static char *pgdata_opt = NULL;
static char *post_opts = NULL;
static const char *progname;
static char *log_file = NULL;
***************
*** 309,327 ****
*/
if (log_file != NULL)
#ifndef WIN32
! snprintf(cmd, MAXPGPATH, "%s\"%s\" %s < \"%s\" >> \"%s\" 2>&1 &%s",
#else
! snprintf(cmd, MAXPGPATH, "%sSTART /B \"\" \"%s\" %s < \"%s\" >> \"%s\" 2>&1%s",
#endif
! SYSTEMQUOTE, postgres_path, post_opts, DEVNULL, log_file,
! SYSTEMQUOTE);
else
#ifndef WIN32
! snprintf(cmd, MAXPGPATH, "%s\"%s\" %s < \"%s\" 2>&1 &%s",
#else
! snprintf(cmd, MAXPGPATH, "%sSTART /B \"\" \"%s\" %s < \"%s\" 2>&1%s",
#endif
! SYSTEMQUOTE, postgres_path, post_opts, DEVNULL, SYSTEMQUOTE);

return system(cmd);
}
--- 310,329 ----
*/
if (log_file != NULL)
#ifndef WIN32
! snprintf(cmd, MAXPGPATH, "%s\"%s\" %s%s < \"%s\" >> \"%s\" 2>&1 &%s",
#else
! snprintf(cmd, MAXPGPATH, "%sSTART /B \"\" \"%s\" %s%s < \"%s\" >> \"%s\" 2>&1%s",
#endif
! SYSTEMQUOTE, postgres_path, pgdata_opt, post_opts,
! DEVNULL, log_file, SYSTEMQUOTE);
else
#ifndef WIN32
! snprintf(cmd, MAXPGPATH, "%s\"%s\" %s%s < \"%s\" 2>&1 &%s",
#else
! snprintf(cmd, MAXPGPATH, "%sSTART /B \"\" \"%s\" %s%s < \"%s\" 2>&1%s",
#endif
! SYSTEMQUOTE, postgres_path, pgdata_opt, post_opts,
! DEVNULL, SYSTEMQUOTE);

return system(cmd);
}
***************
*** 494,499 ****
--- 496,505 ----
}
}

+ /* No -D or -D already added during server start */
+ if (ctl_command == RESTART_COMMAND || pgdata_opt == NULL)
+ pgdata_opt = "";
+
if (postgres_path == NULL)
{
char *postmaster_path;
***************
*** 1210,1215 ****
--- 1216,1224 ----
env_var = xmalloc(len + 8);
snprintf(env_var, len + 8, "PGDATA=%s", optarg);
putenv(env_var);
+ /* Show -D for easier postmaster 'ps' identification */
+ pgdata_opt = xmalloc(len + 7);
+ snprintf(pgdata_opt, len + 7, "-D \"%s\" ", optarg);
break;
}
case 'l':

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