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* clarification for pg_basebackup and major versions
@ 2025-12-29 20:45 PG Doc comments form <noreply@postgresql.org>
2025-12-31 13:34 ` Re: clarification for pg_basebackup and major versions David G. Johnston <david.g.johnston@gmail.com>
0 siblings, 1 reply; 5+ messages in thread
From: PG Doc comments form @ 2025-12-29 20:45 UTC (permalink / raw)
To: pgsql-docs@lists.postgresql.org; +Cc: alexey.shishkin@enterprisedb.com
The following documentation comment has been logged on the website:
Page: https://www.postgresql.org/docs/18/app-pgbasebackup.html
Description:
Hi, Team !
Could we pls. clarify the following statement on the documentation page
https://www.postgresql.org/docs/18/app-pgbasebackup.html:
'pg_basebackup works with servers of the same or older major version, down
to 9.1.'
What does it exactly mean 'works with servers of the same or older major
version' ?
Most probably it means the possibility to use pg_basebackup binary of
version PG 17 to take backup of PG 14 server. Or something else ?
But it's definitely not ability to use pg_basebackup for PostgreSQL major
version upgrade, since pg_basebackup is not listed among the supported
options in https://www.postgresql.org/docs/18/upgrading.html
So, pls. let me propose two things:
- to clarify how pg_basebackup works with servers of the same or older major
version
- to clearly specify pg_basebackup cannot be used for PostgreSQL major
version upgrade
It could be done on the same page
https://www.postgresql.org/docs/18/app-pgbasebackup.html
Thanks !
best regards
Alexey Shishkin
^ permalink raw reply [nested|flat] 5+ messages in thread
* Re: clarification for pg_basebackup and major versions
2025-12-29 20:45 clarification for pg_basebackup and major versions PG Doc comments form <noreply@postgresql.org>
@ 2025-12-31 13:34 ` David G. Johnston <david.g.johnston@gmail.com>
2026-01-19 18:01 ` Re: clarification for pg_basebackup and major versions Alexey Shishkin <alexey.shishkin@enterprisedb.com>
0 siblings, 1 reply; 5+ messages in thread
From: David G. Johnston @ 2025-12-31 13:34 UTC (permalink / raw)
To: alexey.shishkin@enterprisedb.com <alexey.shishkin@enterprisedb.com>; pgsql-docs@lists.postgresql.org <pgsql-docs@lists.postgresql.org>
On Monday, December 29, 2025, PG Doc comments form <noreply@postgresql.org>
wrote:
>
> - to clarify how pg_basebackup works with servers of the same or older
> major
> version
There is no “how”, it just does. The documentation is versioned and “it”
means the binary produced by that version.
> - to clearly specify pg_basebackup cannot be used for PostgreSQL major
> version upgrade
The page clearly states what a backup can be used for and upgrade is not
listed.
David J.
^ permalink raw reply [nested|flat] 5+ messages in thread
* Re: clarification for pg_basebackup and major versions
2025-12-29 20:45 clarification for pg_basebackup and major versions PG Doc comments form <noreply@postgresql.org>
2025-12-31 13:34 ` Re: clarification for pg_basebackup and major versions David G. Johnston <david.g.johnston@gmail.com>
@ 2026-01-19 18:01 ` Alexey Shishkin <alexey.shishkin@enterprisedb.com>
2026-01-19 18:23 ` Re: clarification for pg_basebackup and major versions David G. Johnston <david.g.johnston@gmail.com>
0 siblings, 1 reply; 5+ messages in thread
From: Alexey Shishkin @ 2026-01-19 18:01 UTC (permalink / raw)
To: David G. Johnston <david.g.johnston@gmail.com>; +Cc: pgsql-docs@lists.postgresql.org <pgsql-docs@lists.postgresql.org>
Hi, Team !
Some more clarification about pg_basebackup which should be available in
the documentation:
- if pg_basebackup works between different versions of the same OS (ex.
RHEL8 and RHEL9)
- if pg_basebackup works between different types of OS Linux (ex. RHEL10
and Debian13) or OS Windows (ex. Windows 2016 and Windows 2019)
- if pg_basebackup works between different types of OS (ex. Ubuntu 24.04
and Windows 2022)
- if pg_basebackup works between different platforms (ex. Linux on amd64
and Linux on arm64)
- if pg_basebackup works between 32-bit OS and 64-bit OS
best regards,
Alexey Shishkin
[image: image.png]
*Alexey Shishkin*
Technical Account Manager
EDB Software GmbH
alexey.shishkin@enterprisedb.com
www.enterprisedb.com <https://enterprisedb.com/;
On Wed, Dec 31, 2025 at 2:34 PM David G. Johnston <
david.g.johnston@gmail.com> wrote:
>
>
> On Monday, December 29, 2025, PG Doc comments form <noreply@postgresql.org>
> wrote:
>
>>
>> - to clarify how pg_basebackup works with servers of the same or older
>> major
>> version
>
>
> There is no “how”, it just does. The documentation is versioned and “it”
> means the binary produced by that version.
>
>
>> - to clearly specify pg_basebackup cannot be used for PostgreSQL major
>> version upgrade
>
>
> The page clearly states what a backup can be used for and upgrade is not
> listed.
>
> David J.
>
>
Attachments:
[image/png] image.png (13.2K, 3-image.png)
download | view image
^ permalink raw reply [nested|flat] 5+ messages in thread
* Re: clarification for pg_basebackup and major versions
2025-12-29 20:45 clarification for pg_basebackup and major versions PG Doc comments form <noreply@postgresql.org>
2025-12-31 13:34 ` Re: clarification for pg_basebackup and major versions David G. Johnston <david.g.johnston@gmail.com>
2026-01-19 18:01 ` Re: clarification for pg_basebackup and major versions Alexey Shishkin <alexey.shishkin@enterprisedb.com>
@ 2026-01-19 18:23 ` David G. Johnston <david.g.johnston@gmail.com>
2026-01-21 09:04 ` Re: clarification for pg_basebackup and major versions Alexey Shishkin <alexey.shishkin@enterprisedb.com>
0 siblings, 1 reply; 5+ messages in thread
From: David G. Johnston @ 2026-01-19 18:23 UTC (permalink / raw)
To: Alexey Shishkin <alexey.shishkin@enterprisedb.com>; +Cc: pgsql-docs@lists.postgresql.org <pgsql-docs@lists.postgresql.org>
On Monday, January 19, 2026, Alexey Shishkin <
alexey.shishkin@enterprisedb.com> wrote:
> Hi, Team !
>
> Some more clarification about pg_basebackup which should be available in
> the documentation:
>
> - if pg_basebackup works between different versions of the same OS (ex.
> RHEL8 and RHEL9)
> - if pg_basebackup works between different types of OS Linux (ex. RHEL10
> and Debian13) or OS Windows (ex. Windows 2016 and Windows 2019)
> - if pg_basebackup works between different types of OS (ex. Ubuntu 24.04
> and Windows 2022)
> - if pg_basebackup works between different platforms (ex. Linux on amd64
> and Linux on arm64)
> - if pg_basebackup works between 32-bit OS and 64-bit OS
>
>>
>>
Please don’t top-post.
I agree this these dynamics aren’t readily exposed in the documentation. I
disagree that pg_basebackup should be considered as an authoritative
location for covering the material. It would simply link to such a
location in notes or “see also”.
In short, though, it like pretty much any client program will function
correctly regardless of differences with the server. But a physical backup
is only truly promised to work if the environment that is processing the
data matches the environment that produced the data.
David J.
^ permalink raw reply [nested|flat] 5+ messages in thread
* Re: clarification for pg_basebackup and major versions
2025-12-29 20:45 clarification for pg_basebackup and major versions PG Doc comments form <noreply@postgresql.org>
2025-12-31 13:34 ` Re: clarification for pg_basebackup and major versions David G. Johnston <david.g.johnston@gmail.com>
2026-01-19 18:01 ` Re: clarification for pg_basebackup and major versions Alexey Shishkin <alexey.shishkin@enterprisedb.com>
2026-01-19 18:23 ` Re: clarification for pg_basebackup and major versions David G. Johnston <david.g.johnston@gmail.com>
@ 2026-01-21 09:04 ` Alexey Shishkin <alexey.shishkin@enterprisedb.com>
0 siblings, 0 replies; 5+ messages in thread
From: Alexey Shishkin @ 2026-01-21 09:04 UTC (permalink / raw)
To: David G. Johnston <david.g.johnston@gmail.com>; +Cc: pgsql-docs@lists.postgresql.org <pgsql-docs@lists.postgresql.org>
Hi, Team !
Thanks for your reply !
What I see in the fields is the lack of such simple
supported/recommended/prerequisites notes/links in the official PostgreSQL
documentation (pg_backup is just an example).
That might lead to further confusion for PostgreSQL users.
As an example pls. let me share the logical replication documentation
https://www.postgresql.org/docs/current/logical-replication.html which says:
'
...
- Replicating between different major versions of PostgreSQL.
- Replicating between PostgreSQL instances on different platforms (for
example Linux to Windows)
...
'
I do believe something similar about pg_basebackup would be very welcome by
PostgreSQL users.
best regards,
Alexey Shishkin
[image: image.png]
*Alexey Shishkin*
Technical Account Manager
EDB Software GmbH
alexey.shishkin@enterprisedb.com
www.enterprisedb.com <https://enterprisedb.com/;
On Mon, Jan 19, 2026 at 7:23 PM David G. Johnston <
david.g.johnston@gmail.com> wrote:
> On Monday, January 19, 2026, Alexey Shishkin <
> alexey.shishkin@enterprisedb.com> wrote:
>
>> Hi, Team !
>>
>> Some more clarification about pg_basebackup which should be available in
>> the documentation:
>>
>> - if pg_basebackup works between different versions of the same OS (ex.
>> RHEL8 and RHEL9)
>> - if pg_basebackup works between different types of OS Linux (ex. RHEL10
>> and Debian13) or OS Windows (ex. Windows 2016 and Windows 2019)
>> - if pg_basebackup works between different types of OS (ex. Ubuntu 24.04
>> and Windows 2022)
>> - if pg_basebackup works between different platforms (ex. Linux on amd64
>> and Linux on arm64)
>> - if pg_basebackup works between 32-bit OS and 64-bit OS
>>
>>>
>>>
> Please don’t top-post.
>
> I agree this these dynamics aren’t readily exposed in the documentation.
> I disagree that pg_basebackup should be considered as an authoritative
> location for covering the material. It would simply link to such a
> location in notes or “see also”.
>
> In short, though, it like pretty much any client program will function
> correctly regardless of differences with the server. But a physical backup
> is only truly promised to work if the environment that is processing the
> data matches the environment that produced the data.
>
> David J.
>
Attachments:
[image/png] image.png (13.2K, 3-image.png)
download | view image
^ permalink raw reply [nested|flat] 5+ messages in thread
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2025-12-29 20:45 clarification for pg_basebackup and major versions PG Doc comments form <noreply@postgresql.org>
2025-12-31 13:34 ` David G. Johnston <david.g.johnston@gmail.com>
2026-01-19 18:01 ` Alexey Shishkin <alexey.shishkin@enterprisedb.com>
2026-01-19 18:23 ` David G. Johnston <david.g.johnston@gmail.com>
2026-01-21 09:04 ` Alexey Shishkin <alexey.shishkin@enterprisedb.com>
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