Re: detecting a dead db not seeming to work

Graeme Hinchliffe <graeme.hinchliffe@zeninternet.co.uk> writes:
> On Thu, 2004-08-26 at 15:57, Tom Lane wrote:
>> A new postmaster can't start until the last old backend is gone.  This
>> is a necessary interlock to avoid data corruption.

> But I kill -9 the postmaster, and I cannot start a fresh one, so my
> process is sat in limbo, thinking it is talking to a db that isn't there
> :).

> Well I think so, although I suspect that some part of the db is still
> there and running?

Certainly --- the backend that's serving your connection.  See
http://www.postgresql.org/docs/7.4/static/connect-estab.html

            regards, tom lane