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doc/man/ipcclean.1

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+.\" This is -*-nroff-*-
+.\" XXX standard disclaimer belongs here....
+.\" $Header: /cvsroot/pgsql/doc/man/Attic/ipcclean.1,v 1.1.1.1 1996/08/18 22:14:24 scrappy Exp $
+.TH IPCCLEAN UNIX 11/05/95 Postgres95 Postgres95
+.SH NAME
+ipcclean \(em clean up shared memory and semaphores from aborted backends
+.SH SYNOPSIS
+.BR "ipcclean"
+.SH DESCRIPTION
+.IR Ipcclean 
+cleans up shared memory and semaphore space from aborted backends by
+deleting all instances owned by user \*(lqpostgres\*(rq.  Only the DBA
+should execute this program as it can cause bizarre behavior (i.e.,
+crashes) if run during multi-user execution.  This program should be
+executed if messages such as
+.BR "semget: No space left on device"
+are encountered when starting up the 
+.IR postmaster
+or the backend server.
+.SH BUGS
+If this command is executed while a 
+.IR postmaster 
+is running, the shared memory and semaphores allocated by the
+.IR postmaster
+will be deleted.  This will result in a general failure of the
+backends servers started by that
+.IR postmaster .
+.PP
+This script is a hack, but in the many years since it was written, no
+one has come up with an equally effective and portable solution.
+Suggestions are welcome.
+.PP
+The script makes assumption about the format of output of the
+.BR ipcs
+utility which may not be true across different operating systems.
+Therefore, it may not work on your particular OS.