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PostgreSQL documentation
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<refentry id="APP-IPCCLEAN">
 <refmeta>
  <refentrytitle id="APP-IPCCLEAN-TITLE"><application>ipcclean</application></refentrytitle>
  <manvolnum>1</manvolnum>
  <refmiscinfo>Application</refmiscinfo>
 </refmeta>

 <refnamediv>
  <refname>ipcclean</refname>
  <refpurpose>remove shared memory and semaphores from an aborted <productname>PostgreSQL</productname> server</refpurpose>
 </refnamediv>

 <refsynopsisdiv>
  <cmdsynopsis>
   <command>ipcclean</command>
  </cmdsynopsis>
 </refsynopsisdiv>

 <refsect1 id="R1-APP-IPCCLEAN-1">
  <title>Description</title>
  <para>
   <command>ipcclean</command> removes all shared memory segments and
   semaphore sets owned by the current user.  It is intended to be
   used for cleaning up after a crashed
   <productname>PostgreSQL</productname> server (<xref
   linkend="app-postmaster">).  Note that immediately restarting the
   server will also clean up shared memory and semaphores, so this
   command is of little real utility.
  </para>

  <para>
   Only the database administrator should execute this program as it
   can cause bizarre behavior (i.e., crashes) if run during multiuser
   execution.  If this command is executed while a
   <application>postmaster</application> is running, the shared memory
   and semaphores allocated by the
   <application>postmaster</application> will be deleted.  This will
   result in a general failure of the backend servers started by that
   <application>postmaster</application>.
  </para>
 </refsect1>

 <refsect1>
  <title>Notes</title>

  <para>
   This script is a hack, but in the many years since it was written,
   no one has come up with an equally effective and portable solution.
   Since the <application>postmaster</application> can now clean up by
   itself, it is unlikely that <command>ipcclean</command> will be
   improved upon in the future.
  </para>

  <para>
   The script makes assumption about the format of output of the
   <application>ipcs</application>
   utility which may not be true across different operating systems.
   Therefore, it may not work on your particular OS.
  </para>
 </refsect1>

</refentry>

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