> > pg_ctl stop
> > tar cfz - $PGDATA >someplace
> > pg_ctl start
> >
> But that would mean I would have to have all my programs
> detect that the database went down and make new connections.
You'd better to handle lost connections anyway.
> I would rather that postgres just lock all the files and
> do the tar.
Not suitable for online backup to bother with implementation.
We hope to have WAL-based backup and restore (BAR) in some
future.
Vadim