Re: Why doesn't PGAdmin support backing up of schema only or data only?

On Fri, 2014-02-07 at 14:32 +0000, Rob Richardson wrote:
> Greetings!
> 
> I have been curious for several years:  Why doesn't PGAdmin's backup screen allow me to save data only or schema only
incustom format?
 
> 
> 
> I am trying to test a long-running application that uses a PostgreSQL database.  I occasionally need to change or add
adatabase function or make some other change that does not affect table structures.  I also need to save backups of the
databaseat various times as the application runs so I can restart the application from that point.  In the past, if I
changeda database function, I needed to open all of the database copies I've been using and apply the change to each
oneindividually.
 
> 
> It occurred to me recently that if I save the data and schema separately, then I can create a database, load the
latestversion of the schema (with the changed function) into it, and then choose which state of data to load (beginning
ofthe application, middle, near the end, or whatever).
 
> 
> With PGAdmin's backup screen, I only get a choice of data only or schema only if I select a plain format for my
backupfile.  But then, if I use psql to restore my data, all triggers are active, and the effects of the triggers mean
thatthe restored data is not the same as the data that was backed up.  psql does not have a disable triggers options.
Onthe other hand, pg_restore does have an option to disable triggers, ensuring that the restored data is identical to
thesaved data.  But pg_restore only works on custom format files.  PGAdmin's backup screen is merely a GUI wrapper
aroundthe pg_dump program, and with pg_dump there's no problem saving schema only or data only into custom-format
files. So why doesn't PGAdmin let us do it?
 
> 

To be honest, I have no idea. And it doesn't make any sense to me. When
I added the section options to pgAdmin, I allowed it to be used, even
with binaries format. It isn't consistent.

If noone objects, it would be good to allow schema and data only with
binaries format.


-- 
Guillaume
http://blog.guillaume.lelarge.info
http://www.dalibo.com