Re: odd buildfarm failure - "pg_ctl: control file appears to be corrupt"

Yeah, my contribution to this area [1] is focusing on the API because I figured we've provided it and should do our best to have it do as much as possible for the dba or third-parties that build tooling on top of it.

I kinda think that adding a pg_backup_metadata directory that pg_backup_start|stop can use may help here.  I'm wondering whether those functions provide enough control guarantees that pg_control's "in_backup=true|false" flag proposed in that thread is reliable enough when copied to the root directory in the backup.  I kinda feel that so long as the flag is reliable it should be possible for the signal file processing code to implement whatever protocol we need.

David J.

[1] https://www.postgresql.org/message-id/CAKFQuwbpz4s8XP_%2BKhsif2eFaC78wpTbNbevUYBmjq-UCeNL7Q%40mail.gmail.com