Re: "using previous checkpoint record at" maybe not the greatest idea?

On Sun, Feb 7, 2016 at 10:54 AM, Amit Kapila <amit.kapila16@gmail.com> wrote:
>
> On Tue, Feb 2, 2016 at 5:28 AM, Andres Freund <andres@anarazel.de> wrote:
> >
> > Hi,
> >
> > currently if, when not in standby mode, we can't read a checkpoint
> > record, we automatically fall back to the previous checkpoint, and start
> > replay from there.
> >
> > Doing so without user intervention doesn't actually seem like a good
> > idea. While not super likely, it's entirely possible that doing so can
> > wreck a cluster, that'd otherwise easily recoverable. Imagine e.g. a
> > tablespace being dropped - going back to the previous checkpoint very
> > well could lead to replay not finishing, as the directory to create
> > files in doesn't even exist.
> >
>
> I think there are similar hazards for deletion of relation when
> relfilenode gets reused.  Basically, it can delete the data
> for one of the newer relations which is created after the
> last checkpoint.
>
> > As there's, afaics, really no "legitimate" reasons for needing to go
> > back to the previous checkpoint I don't think we should do so in an
> > automated fashion.
> >
>
> I have tried to find out why at the first place such a mechanism has
> been introduced and it seems to me that commit
> 4d14fe0048cf80052a3ba2053560f8aab1bb1b22 has introduced it, but
> the reason is not apparent.  Then I digged through the archives
> and found mail chain which I think has lead to this commit.
> Refer [1][2].
>