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$PostgreSQL: pgsql/doc/src/sgml/ref/pg_dumpall.sgml,v 1.45 2004/07/12 14:35:43 momjian 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 and might be asking 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 are used to 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, but it makes the output more portable to other SQL database
	management systems.
       </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,
	but it is necessary if you desire to rearrange column ordering.
       </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) for every
	table.  Use this option if your application references the 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>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 schema (data definitions), no 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>
        This option is obsolete but still accepted for backwards
        compatibility with <application>pg_dump</application>.
       </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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