Over time, these files accumulate. If left unchecked, the storage device will fill up, causing the database server to crash. pg_archivecleanup is the solution to this problem. It allows administrators to remove old, unnecessary WAL files while retaining the ones required for recovery.
Over time, the archive directory accumulates thousands of WAL segments. Without cleanup, disk space will eventually run out, causing the primary database to halt. This is where pg_archivecleanup comes in—but only when used correctly. pg-archivecleanup must specify oldest kept wal file
: Keeps the most recent WAL files up to a specific total directory size (e.g., 100GB ), deleting the oldest first. 2. Automatic Metadata Detection Over time, these files accumulate
#!/bin/bash ARCHIVE="/var/lib/pgsql/archive" OLDEST_REQUIRED=$(ls -1 $ARCHIVE | head -1) # simplistic; use pg_controldata instead if [ -z "$OLDEST_REQUIRED" ]; then echo "No WAL files found" exit 1 fi pg_archivecleanup $ARCHIVE $OLDEST_REQUIRED || echo "Cleanup failed" exit 1 It allows administrators to remove old, unnecessary WAL