From: Christophe Pettus <xof@thebuild.com>
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Subject: pgBackRest maintenance (was Re: Tablespace size in TB)
Date: Sun, 3 May 2026 23:45:53 -0700
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> On May 3, 2026, at 22:55, Ilya Kosmodemiansky <ik@dataegret.com> =
wrote:
> Making a company-branded fork is the easiest (and wrong) step. =
Planning how to pick up the pgBackRest project or create a sustainable, =
community-driven fork that re-establishes at least the same reputation =
requires longer preparation. We all need patience.

Dave was quite clear that someone "picking up the pgBackRest project" =
was not on the table.  I don't think that avenue is open.

I would feel more sanguine about the idea that a new community-suported =
fork will emerge if there were an existence proof of it happening in the =
PostgreSQL community.  I can't think of one.

We need to tell our customers something, and "the community will ride in =
and maintain pgBackRest, just you wait" isn't a satisfactory answer.  We =
can tell clients all we want that the current pgBackRest version works =
just fine, they don't have to change, a community standard version will =
emerge, and so forth, but that falls on deaf ears.  This is a backup =
tool; it's second only to PostgreSQL itself in the "must work all the =
time" camp.  All they hear is what it says on the repo, which is =
"pgBackRest is no longer being maintained."

I think it more likely that an entirely new backup tool will emerge, =
become the de facto community standards, and then we will move off =
pgBackRest (and its forks) onto that.=