On 7/31/07, Tom Lane <tgl@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote: > "Merlin Moncure" <mmoncure@xxxxxxxxx> writes: > > third (but unlikely) possibility is there are various dropped tables, > > etc which need to be deleted but there are stale postgresql processes > > holding on to the fd. This would only happen following a postmaster > > crash or some other bizarre scenario, but i've seen it on production > > box. > > Brent Reid reported something similar in bug #3483 but I'm still quite > unclear how it'd happen in any realistic scenario. Can you create a > test case? No, but I've seen it on a production 8.1 box (once). I didn't actually cause the problem, just cleaned it up. It was unnoticed for several weeks/months because the postmaster processes showed up without a controlling tty. My best guess is the postmaster was killed improperly out of haste during a maintenance window, or possibly an out of disk space related issue at an earlier point. I never really considered that it was a postgresql problem. merlin ---------------------------(end of broadcast)--------------------------- TIP 3: Have you checked our extensive FAQ? http://www.postgresql.org/docs/faq