Heikki Linnakangas <heikki@enterprisedb.com> writes:
> What I was complaining/suggesting is that we should make what you did to
> actually work, because it's a lot simpler. And as Jonah pointed out,
> we'd need to inhibit checkpoints between pg_start_backup() and
> pg_stop_backup() to make it work.
I don't think that follows --- what you'd need is to prevent the
checkpoints from removing/recycling old WAL files, but you can still
allow a checkpoint to occur. Any subsequent recovery from the backup
would need to replay from the checkpoint identified by the backup label
file anyway.
Whether it's a good idea or not is a bit debatable though. I'm
concerned about the WAL partition filling up (--> PANIC), especially
if you forget to pg_stop_backup after getting your backup.
regards, tom lane