Re: pg_ctl kill INT vs. pg_cancel_backend

Hello,

On 08.12.2018 20:30, Ron wrote:
> Hi,
> 
> Is there a substantive difference between the two, or are they just 
> different interfaces to the same action?

I think they both only execute kill() and send a signal to a process. 
But pg_cancel_backend() after checking privileges sends only SIGINT and 
only to a PostgreSQL's backend process.
pg_ctl can send a specified signal to any process. From the documentation:

pg_ctl kill signal_name process_id

Here signal_name is HUP, INT and others.

-- 
Arthur Zakirov
Postgres Professional: http://www.postgrespro.com
Russian Postgres Company