$ createdb test $ pg_dump -c --if-exists test (works, dumps empty database) $ psql test -c "select lo_create(1);" $ pg_dump -c --if-exists test (fails, with the above mentioned assertion)
The code tries to inject an "IF EXISTS" into the already-construct DROP command, but it doesn't work for large objects, because the deletion command looks like "SELECT pg_catalog.lo_unlink(xxx)". There is no DROP there.
I believe we could use "SELECT pg_catalog.lo_unlink(loid) FROM pg_catalog.pg_largeobject_metadata WHERE loid = xxx". pg_largeobject_metadata table didn't exist before version 9.0, but we don't guarantee pg_dump's output to be compatible in that direction anyway, so I think that's fine.
The quick fix would be to add an exception for blobs, close to where Assert is. There are a few exceptions there already. A cleaner solution would be to add a new argument to ArchiveEntry and make the callers responsible for providing an "DROP IF EXISTS" query, but that's not too appetizing because for most callers it would be boring boilerplate code. Perhaps add an argument, but if it's NULL, ArchiveEntry would form the if-exists query automatically from the DROP query.
I am sending two patches
first is fast fix
second fix is implementation of Heikki' idea.
I'm guessing this issue is still unresolved? It would be nice to get this off the open items list.