You could write a plperlul function that runs a shell script to back up your database, you can even pass it parameters and put a call to that in a trigger.
BUT, this could result in multiple backups running at the same time and become a performance drag. --
Thanks for the replies.Sorry I must have been a bit unclear, I realise I *could* do this from the shell level, but can I do it from a PSQL session somehow?
Lucas' \setenv method won't work for you?
Cheers,
James Sewell, PostgreSQL Team Lead / Solutions Architect
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