I ahve the following python file that I am running as an external method in Zope.
def backup():
import os
os.popen("c:/scholarpack/postgres/bin/pg_dump scholarpack > c:/scholarpack/ancillary/scholarpack.sql")
Have you tried running that command on the command line by itself (as the same user that runs the phython)? If that gives you the same result, then you know for sure that it's a function of the pg_dump options and not the python script.
Are you looking for the full SQL of the scholarpack database? What user is this running as? Remember, in your case, pg_dump is going to try to connect as the OS username running your script. you may want to include the username option to pg_dump:
pg_dump -U <username> scholarpack
Try running that on the commandline first, by itself, as the same user that runs the python script. If it works, then you know for sure that any problems from here on out are just a function of the python script and not pg_dump itself.
--Scott
