On Mon, 2005-09-26 at 17:27 -0500, Jim C. Nasby wrote:
> If a database is created with a 64 bit version of initdb, would a 32bit
> backend be able to talk to it? Likewise, would a backend compiled by a
> different compiler be able to?
>
> If there was some kind of incompatability, would the backend just refuse
> to start, or would it start and start silently trashing data?
I plugged a storage array that was initialized with ia32 and attached it
to an amd64 machine. The postmaster complained at startup that
such-and-such magic value was incorrect and refused to start. However
it was implied on the mailing list that for certain unlucky magic values
the postmaster may have started anyway and eaten the database.
-jwb