postgres-ref.sgml

PostgreSQL7.4.6 for Linux

     <varlistentry>
      <term><option>-N</option></term>
      <listitem>
       <para>
	Disables use of newline as a statement delimiter.
       </para>
      </listitem>
     </varlistentry>
    </variablelist>
   </refsect2>

   <refsect2>
    <title>Semi-internal Options</title>

    <para>
     There are several other options that may be specified, used
     mainly for debugging purposes.  These are listed here only for
     the use by <productname>PostgreSQL</productname> system
     developers.  <emphasis>Use of any of these options is highly
     discouraged.</emphasis>  Furthermore, any of these options may
     disappear or change in a future release without notice.
   </para>
    <variablelist>

     <varlistentry>
      <term><option>-f</option> <literal>{ s | i | m | n | h }</literal></term>
      <listitem>
       <para>
	Forbids the use of particular scan and join methods:
	<literal>s</literal> and <literal>i</literal>
	disable sequential and index scans respectively, while
	<literal>n</literal>, <literal>m</literal>, and <literal>h</literal>
	disable nested-loop, merge and hash joins respectively.
       </para>
	
	<note>
	 <para>
	  Neither sequential scans nor nested-loop joins can be disabled completely;
	  the <literal>-fs</literal> and <literal>-fn</literal>
	  options simply discourage the optimizer from using those
	  plan types if it has any other alternative.
	 </para>
	</note>
      </listitem>
     </varlistentry>

     <varlistentry>
      <term><option>-O</option></term>
      <listitem>
       <para>
	Allows the structure of system tables to be modified.  This is
	used by <command>initdb</command>.
       </para>
      </listitem>
     </varlistentry>

     <varlistentry>
      <term><option>-p</option> <replaceable class="parameter">database</replaceable></term>
      <listitem>
       <para>
	Indicates that this process has been started by a
	<command>postmaster</command> and specifies the database to use.
	etc.
       </para>
      </listitem>
     </varlistentry>

     <varlistentry>
      <term><option>-t</option> <literal>pa[rser] | pl[anner] | e[xecutor]</literal></term>
      <listitem>
       <para>
	Print timing statistics for each query relating to each of the
	major system modules.  This option cannot be used together
	with the <option>-s</option> option.
       </para>
      </listitem>
     </varlistentry>

     <varlistentry>
      <term><option>-v</option> <replaceable class="parameter">protocol</replaceable></term>
      <listitem>
       <para>
	Specifies the version number of the frontend/backend protocol
	to be used for this particular session.
       </para>
      </listitem>
     </varlistentry>

     <varlistentry>
      <term><option>-W</option> <replaceable class="parameter">seconds</replaceable></term>
      <listitem>
       <para>
	As soon as this option is encountered, the process sleeps for
	the specified amount of seconds.  This gives developers time
	to attach a debugger to the server process.
       </para>
      </listitem>
     </varlistentry>

     <varlistentry>
      <term><option>--describe-config</option></term>
      <listitem>
       <para>
        This option dumps out the server's internal configuration variables, 
        descriptions, and defaults in tab-delimited <command>COPY</> format.
        It is designed primarily for use by administration tools.
       </para>
      </listitem>
     </varlistentry>

    </variablelist>
   </refsect2>
 </refsect1>

 <refsect1>
  <title>Environment</title>

  <variablelist>
   <varlistentry>
    <term><envar>PGDATA</envar></term>

    <listitem>
     <para>
      Default data direction location
     </para>
    </listitem>
   </varlistentry>

  </variablelist>

  <para>
   For others, which have little influence during single-user mode,
   see <xref linkend="app-postmaster">.
  </para>
 </refsect1>

 <refsect1>
  <title>Notes</title>

  <para>
   To cancel a running query, send the <literal>SIGINT</literal> signal
   to the <command>postgres</command> process running that command.
  </para>

  <para>
   To tell <command>postgres</command> to reload the configuration files,
   send a <literal>SIGHUP</literal> signal.  Normally it's best to
   <literal>SIGHUP</literal> the <command>postmaster</command> instead;
   the <command>postmaster</command> will in turn <literal>SIGHUP</literal>
   each of its children.  But in some cases it might be desirable to have only
   one <command>postgres</command> process reload the configuration files.
  </para>

  <para>
   The <command>postmaster</command> uses <literal>SIGTERM</literal>
   to tell a <command>postgres</command> process to quit normally and
   <literal>SIGQUIT</literal> to terminate without the normal cleanup.
   These signals <emphasis>should not</emphasis> be used by users.  It is also
   unwise to send <literal>SIGKILL</literal> to a <command>postgres</command>
   process --- the <command>postmaster</command> will interpret this as
   a crash in <command>postgres</command>, and will force all the sibling
   <command>postgres</command> processes to quit as part of its standard
   crash-recovery procedure.
  </para>

 </refsect1>

 <refsect1>
  <title>Usage</title>

   <para>
    Start a stand-alone server with a command like
<screen>
<userinput>postgres -D /usr/local/pgsql/data <replaceable>other-options</> my_database</userinput>
</screen>
    Provide the correct path to the database directory with <option>-D</>, or
    make sure that the environment variable <envar>PGDATA</> is set.
    Also specify the name of the particular database you want to work in.
   </para>

   <para>
    Normally, the stand-alone server treats newline as the command
    entry terminator; there is no intelligence about semicolons,
    as there is in <application>psql</>.  To continue a command
    across multiple lines, you must type backslash just before each
    newline except the last one.
   </para>

   <para>
    But if you use the <option>-N</> command line switch, then newline does
    not terminate command entry.  In this case, the server will read the standard input
    until the end-of-file (<acronym>EOF</>) marker, then
    process the input as a single command string.  Backslash-newline is not
    treated specially in this case.
   </para>

   <para>
    To quit the session, type <acronym>EOF</acronym>
    (<keycombo action="simul"><keycap>Control</><keycap>D</></>, usually).
    If you've
    used <option>-N</>, two consecutive <acronym>EOF</>s are needed to exit.
   </para>

   <para>
    Note that the stand-alone server does not provide sophisticated
    line-editing features (no command history, for example).
   </para>

 </refsect1>

 <refsect1>
  <title>See Also</title>

  <para>
   <xref linkend="app-initdb">,
   <xref linkend="app-ipcclean">,
   <xref linkend="app-postmaster">
  </para>
 </refsect1>

</refentry>

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