diff --git a/doc/src/FAQ/FAQ.html b/doc/src/FAQ/FAQ.html index 32762e38ea..1eead79e05 100644 --- a/doc/src/FAQ/FAQ.html +++ b/doc/src/FAQ/FAQ.html @@ -81,6 +81,8 @@ clients" when trying to connect?
3.9) What are the pg_sorttempNNN.NN files in my database directory?
+ 3.10) Why do I need to do a dump and restore + to upgrade PostgreSQL?

Operational Questions

@@ -776,6 +778,26 @@ not if a backend crashes during a sort. If you have no backends running at the time, it is safe to delete the pg_tempNNN.NN files.

+ +

3.10) Why do I need to do a dump and restore + to upgrade PostgreSQL?

+ +

The PostgreSQL team tries very heard to maintain compatability across + minor releases. So upgrading from 7.2 to 7.2.1 does not require a dump a + restore. However, new features are continuously being adding and + sometimes this requires new fields to be added to system tables. + +

These changes may be across many tables and so maintaining backward + compatability would be quite difficult. Thus, restoring from a dump is + required to make everything work. + +

Note that the actual on-disk file format does not change very often, + a feature the pg_upgrade script uses quite successfully. There the dump + is used create the necessary information in the system tables. The data + files are then just copied across. This method is not as guarenteed as + the dump/restore method but when it works it can make upgrades very + efficient. +


Operational Questions