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$PostgreSQL: pgsql/doc/src/sgml/ref/pg_dumpall.sgml,v 1.47 2005/01/04 03:58:16 tgl Exp $
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<refentry id="APP-PG-DUMPALL">
 <refmeta>
  <refentrytitle id="APP-PG-DUMPALL-TITLE"><application>pg_dumpall</application></refentrytitle>
  <manvolnum>1</manvolnum>
  <refmiscinfo>Application</refmiscinfo>
 </refmeta>

 <refnamediv>
  <refname>pg_dumpall</refname>
  <refpurpose>extract a <productname>PostgreSQL</productname> database cluster into a script file</refpurpose>
 </refnamediv>

 <indexterm zone="app-pg-dumpall">
  <primary>pg_dumpall</primary>
 </indexterm>

 <refsynopsisdiv>
  <cmdsynopsis>
   <command>pg_dumpall</command>
   <arg rep="repeat"><replaceable>option</replaceable></arg>
  </cmdsynopsis>
 </refsynopsisdiv>

 <refsect1 id="app-pg-dumpall-description">
  <title>Description</title>

  <para>
   <application>pg_dumpall</application> is a utility for writing out
   (<quote>dumping</quote>) all <productname>PostgreSQL</> databases
   of a cluster into one script file.  The script file contains
   <acronym>SQL</acronym> commands that can be used as input to <xref
   linkend="app-psql"> to restore the databases.  It does this by
   calling <xref linkend="app-pgdump"> for each database in a cluster.
   <application>pg_dumpall</application> also dumps global objects
   that are common to all databases.
   (<application>pg_dump</application> does not save these objects.)
   This currently includes information about database users and
   groups, and access permissions that apply to databases as a whole.
  </para>

  <para>
   Thus, <application>pg_dumpall</application> is an integrated
   solution for backing up your databases.  But note a limitation:
   it cannot dump <quote>large objects</quote>, since
   <application>pg_dump</application> cannot dump such objects into
   text files.  If you have databases containing large objects,
   they should be dumped using one of <application>pg_dump</application>'s
   non-text output modes.
  </para>

  <para>
   Since <application>pg_dumpall</application> 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
   superuser privileges to execute the saved script in order to be
   allowed to add users and groups, and to create databases.
  </para>

  <para>
   The SQL script will be written to the standard output.  Shell
   operators should be used to redirect it into a file.
  </para>

  <para>
  <application>pg_dumpall</application> needs to connect several
  times to the <productname>PostgreSQL</productname> server (once per
  database).  If you use password authentication it is likely to ask for
  a password each time. It is convenient to have a
  <filename>$HOME/.pgpass</> file in such cases.
  </para>

 </refsect1>

 <refsect1>
  <title>Options</title>

   <para>
    The following command-line options control the content and
    format of the output.

    <variablelist>
     <varlistentry>
      <term><option>-a</></term>
      <term><option>--data-only</></term>
      <listitem>
       <para>
        Dump only the data, not the schema (data definitions).
       </para>
      </listitem>
     </varlistentry>

     <varlistentry>
      <term><option>-c</option></term>
      <term><option>--clean</option></term>
      <listitem>
       <para>
        Include SQL commands to clean (drop) the databases before
        recreating them.
       </para>
      </listitem>
     </varlistentry>

     <varlistentry>
      <term><option>-d</option></term>
      <term><option>--inserts</option></term>
      <listitem>
       <para>
        Dump data as <command>INSERT</command> commands (rather
        than <command>COPY</command>).  This will make restoration very slow;
        it is mainly useful for making dumps that can be loaded into
        non-<productname>PostgreSQL</productname> databases.  Note that
        the restore may fail altogether if you have rearranged column order.
        The <option>-D</option> option is safer, though even slower.
       </para>
      </listitem>
     </varlistentry>

     <varlistentry>
      <term><option>-D</option></term>
      <term><option>--column-inserts</option></term>
      <term><option>--attribute-inserts</option></term>
      <listitem>
       <para>
        Dump data as <command>INSERT</command> commands with explicit
        column names (<literal>INSERT INTO
        <replaceable>table</replaceable>
        (<replaceable>column</replaceable>, ...) VALUES
        ...</literal>).  This will make restoration very slow; it is mainly
        useful for making dumps that can be loaded into
        non-<productname>PostgreSQL</productname> databases.
       </para>
      </listitem>
     </varlistentry>

     <varlistentry>
      <term><option>-g</option></term>
      <term><option>--globals-only</option></term>
      <listitem>
       <para>
        Dump only global objects (users and groups), no databases.
       </para>
      </listitem>
     </varlistentry>

     <varlistentry>
      <term><option>-i</></term>
      <term><option>--ignore-version</></term>
      <listitem>
       <para>
        Ignore version mismatch between
        <application>pg_dumpall</application> and the database server.
       </para>

       <para>
        <application>pg_dumpall</application> can handle databases
        from previous releases of <productname>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 <application>pg_dumpall</application> then
        fails, don't say you weren't warned).
       </para>
      </listitem>
     </varlistentry>

     <varlistentry>
      <term><option>-o</></term>
      <term><option>--oids</></term>
      <listitem>
       <para>
        Dump object identifiers (<acronym>OID</acronym>s) as part of the
        data for every table.  Use this option if your application references
        the <acronym>OID</>
        columns in some way (e.g., in a foreign key constraint).
        Otherwise, this option should not be used.
       </para>
      </listitem>
     </varlistentry>

     <varlistentry>
      <term><option>-O</></term>
      <term><option>--no-owner</option></term>
      <listitem>
       <para>
        Do not output commands to set
        ownership of objects to match the original database.
        By default, <application>pg_dumpall</application> issues
        <command>ALTER OWNER</> or 
        <command>SET SESSION AUTHORIZATION</command>
        statements to set ownership of created schema elements.
        These statements
        will fail when the script is run unless it is started by a superuser
        (or the same user that owns all of the objects in the script).
        To make a script that can be restored by any user, but will give
        that user ownership of all the objects, specify <option>-O</>.
       </para>
      </listitem>
     </varlistentry>

     <varlistentry>
      <term><option>-s</option></term>
      <term><option>--schema-only</option></term>
      <listitem>
       <para>
        Dump only the object definitions (schema), not data.
       </para>
      </listitem>
     </varlistentry>

     <varlistentry>
      <term><option>-S <replaceable class="parameter">username</replaceable></option></term>
      <term><option>--superuser=<replaceable class="parameter">username</replaceable></option></term>
      <listitem>
       <para>
        Specify the superuser user name to use when disabling triggers.
        This is only relevant if <option>--disable-triggers</> is used.
        (Usually, it's better to leave this out, and instead start the
        resulting script as superuser.)
       </para>
      </listitem>
     </varlistentry>

     <varlistentry>
      <term><option>-v</></term>
      <term><option>--verbose</></term>
      <listitem>
       <para>
        Specifies verbose mode.  This will cause
        <application>pg_dumpall</application> to output start/stop
        times to the dump file, and progress messages to standard error.
        It will also enable verbose output in <application>pg_dump</>.
       </para>
      </listitem>
     </varlistentry>

     <varlistentry>
      <term><option>-x</></term>
      <term><option>--no-privileges</></term>
      <term><option>--no-acl</></term>
      <listitem>
       <para>
        Prevent dumping of access privileges (grant/revoke commands).
       </para>
      </listitem>
     </varlistentry>

     <varlistentry>
      <term><option>-X disable-dollar-quoting</></term>
      <term><option>--disable-dollar-quoting</></term>
      <listitem>
       <para>
        This option disables the use of dollar quoting for function bodies,
        and forces them to be quoted using SQL standard string syntax.
       </para>
     </listitem>
    </varlistentry>

     <varlistentry>
      <term><option>-X disable-triggers</></term>
      <term><option>--disable-triggers</></term>
      <listitem>
       <para>
        This option is only relevant when creating a data-only dump.
        It instructs <application>pg_dumpall</application> to include commands
        to temporarily disable triggers on the target tables while
        the data is reloaded.  Use this if you have referential
        integrity checks or other triggers on the tables that you
        do not want to invoke during data reload.
       </para>

       <para>
        Presently, the commands emitted for <option>--disable-triggers</>
        must be done as superuser.  So, you should also specify
        a superuser name with <option>-S</>, or preferably be careful to
        start the resulting script as a superuser.
       </para>
      </listitem>
     </varlistentry>

     <varlistentry>
      <term><option>-X use-set-session-authorization</></term>
      <term><option>--use-set-session-authorization</></term>
      <listitem>
       <para>
        Output SQL standard SET SESSION AUTHORIZATION commands instead
        of OWNER TO commands.  This makes the dump more standards compatible,
        but depending on the history of the objects in the dump, may not
        restore properly.
       </para>
      </listitem>
     </varlistentry>

    </variablelist>
   </para>

  <para>
   The following command-line options control the database connection parameters.

   <variablelist>
     <varlistentry>
      <term>-h <replaceable>host</replaceable></term>
      <listitem>
       <para>
        Specifies the host name of the machine on which the database
        server is running.  If the value begins with a slash, it is
        used as the directory for the Unix domain socket.  The default
        is taken from the <envar>PGHOST</envar> environment variable,
        if set, else a Unix domain socket connection is attempted.
       </para>
      </listitem>
     </varlistentry>

     <varlistentry>
      <term>-p <replaceable>port</replaceable></term>
      <listitem>
       <para>
        Specifies the TCP port or local Unix domain socket file
        extension on which the server is listening for connections.
        Defaults to the <envar>PGPORT</envar> environment variable, if
        set, or a compiled-in default.
       </para>
      </listitem>
     </varlistentry>

     <varlistentry>
      <term>-U <replaceable>username</replaceable></term>
      <listitem>
       <para>
        Connect as the given user.
       </para>
      </listitem>
     </varlistentry>

     <varlistentry>
      <term>-W</term>
      <listitem>
       <para>
        Force a password prompt.  This should happen automatically if
        the server requires password authentication.
       </para>
      </listitem>
     </varlistentry>
   </variablelist>
  </para>
 </refsect1>


 <refsect1>
  <title>Environment</title>

  <variablelist>
   <varlistentry>
    <term><envar>PGHOST</envar></term>
    <term><envar>PGPORT</envar></term>
    <term><envar>PGUSER</envar></term>

    <listitem>
     <para>
      Default connection parameters
     </para>
    </listitem>
   </varlistentry>
  </variablelist>
 </refsect1>


 <refsect1>
  <title>Notes</title>

  <para>
   Since <application>pg_dumpall</application> calls
   <application>pg_dump</application> internally, some diagnostic
   messages will refer to <application>pg_dump</application>.
  </para>

  <para>
   Once restored, it is wise to run <command>ANALYZE</> on each
   database so the optimizer has useful statistics. You
   can also run <command>vacuumdb -a -z</> to analyze all
   databases.
  </para>

 </refsect1>


 <refsect1 id="app-pg-dumpall-ex">
  <title>Examples</title>
  <para>
   To dump all databases:

<screen>
<prompt>$</prompt> <userinput>pg_dumpall &gt; db.out</userinput>
</screen>
  </para>

  <para>
   To reload this database use, for example:
<screen>
<prompt>$</prompt> <userinput>psql -f db.out template1</userinput>
</screen>
   (It is not important to which database you connect here since the
   script file created by <application>pg_dumpall</application> will
   contain the appropriate commands to create and connect to the saved
   databases.)
  </para>
 </refsect1>

 <refsect1>
  <title>See Also</title>

  <para>
    <xref linkend="app-pgdump">.  Check there for details on possible
    error conditions.
  </para>
 </refsect1>   

</refentry>

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