On Tue, 10 Jul 2007, Ben wrote:
"The backup history file is just a small text file. It contains the label string you gave to pg_start_backup, as well as the starting and ending times and WAL segments of the backup.
For instance, in the case when the backup history file from the previous backup is, for some reason, still around, but the backup history file from the current run has yet to be written, then I'd backup more WAL files than I need.
You should give each backup a unique label (normally today's date suffices) and confirm that the history file you find has that label in it. That's how you prevent this class of problem. If you don't find the label you expect in the history, abort the whole thing because your backup didn't happen correctly.
-- * Greg Smith gsmith@xxxxxxxxxxxxx http://www.gregsmith.com Baltimore, MD