PG_DUMPALL(1) PostgreSQL Client Applications PG_DUMPALL(1)NAMEpg_dumpall - extract a PostgreSQL database cluster into a
script file
SYNOPSISpg_dumpall [ options... ]
DESCRIPTIONpg_dumpall is a utility for writing out (``dumping'') all
PostgreSQL databases of a cluster into one script file.
The script file contains SQL commands that can be used as
input to psql(1) to restore the databases. It does this by
calling pg_dump(1) for each database in a cluster.
pg_dumpall also dumps global objects that are common to
all databases. (pg_dump does not save these objects.)
This currently includes the information about database
users and groups.
Thus, pg_dumpall is an integrated solution for backing up
your databases. But note a limitation: it cannot dump
``large objects'', since pg_dump cannot dump such objects
into text files. If you have databases containing large
objects, they should be dumped using one of pg_dump's non-
text output modes.
Since pg_dumpall reads tables from all databases you will
most likely have to connect as a database superuser in
order to produce a complete dump. Also you will need supe-
ruser privileges to execute the saved script in order to
be allowed to add users and groups, and to create
databases.
The SQL script will be written to the standard output.
Shell operators should be used to redirect it into a file.
pg_dumpall might need to connect several times to the
PostgreSQL server, asking for a password each time. It is
convenient to have a $HOME/.pgpass file in such cases.
OPTIONS
The following command-line options are used to control the
output format.
-c
--clean
Include SQL commands to clean (drop) the databases
before recreating them.
-d
--inserts
Dump data as INSERT commands (rather than COPY).
This will make restoration very slow, but it makes
the output more portable to other RDBMS packages.
-D
--column-inserts
--attribute-inserts
Dump data as INSERT commands with explicit column
names (INSERT INTO table (column, ...) VALUES ...).
This will make restoration very slow, but it is
necessary if you desire to rearrange column order-
ing.
-g
--globals-only
Dump only global objects (users and groups), no
databases.
-i
--ignore-version
Ignore version mismatch between pg_dumpall and the
database server.
pg_dumpall can handle databases from previous
releases of PostgreSQL, but very old versions are
not supported anymore (currently prior to 7.0). Use
this option if you need to override the version
check (and if pg_dumpall then fails, don't say you
weren't warned).
-o
--oids Dump object identifiers (OIDs) for every table. Use
this option if your application references the OID
columns in some way (e.g., in a foreign key con-
straint). Otherwise, this option should not be
used.
-v
--verbose
Specifies verbose mode. This will cause pg_dumpall
to print progress messages to standard error.
The following command-line options control the database
connection parameters.
-h host
Specifies the host name of the machine on which the
database server is running. If host begins with a
slash, it is used as the directory for the Unix
domain socket. The default is taken from the PGHOST
environment variable, if set, else a Unix domain
socket connection is attempted.
-p port
The port number on which the server is listening.
Defaults to the PGPORT environment variable, if
set, or a compiled-in default.
-U username
Connect as the given user.
-W Force a password prompt. This should happen auto-
matically if the server requires password authenti-
cation.
Long options are only available on some platforms.
ENVIRONMENT
PGHOST
PGPORT
PGUSER Default connection parameters.
NOTES
Since pg_dumpall calls pg_dump internally, some diagnostic
messages will refer to pg_dump.
pg_dumpall will need to connect several times to the Post-
greSQL server. If password authentication is configured,
it will ask for a password each time. In that case it
would be convenient to set up a password file. [Comment:
But where is that password file documented?]
EXAMPLES
To dump all databases:
$ pg_dumpall > db.out
To reload this database use, for example:
$ psql -f db.out template1
(It is not important to which database you connect here
since the script file created by pg_dumpall will contain
the appropriate commands to create and connect to the
saved databases.)
SEE ALSOpg_dump(1), psql(1). Check there for details on possible
error conditions.
Application 2002-11-22 PG_DUMPALL(1)
