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log_startup_progress_interval

log_startup_progress_interval is the PostgreSQL setting that defines the interval between progress updates for long-running startup operations.
Note

Fact — official short description: “Time between progress updates for long-running startup operations.”

Identity

Type , Valueinteger
Upstream pg_settings type
Context , Valuesighup
Takes effect after configuration reload
Unit , Valuems
Raw unit
Range , Value0 – 2147483647
Raw limits in the last observed version
Enum values , Value—
— for non-enum types
Category , ValueReporting and Logging / When to Log
Upstream classification
Latest boot value , Value10000
10 s

Lifecycle

Fact Value
First observed PG15
Present in PG15–19 Beta 3
Removed in No
Introduction commit 9ce346eabf35 — Report progress of startup operations that take a long time.
Commit date 2021-10-25
Discussion thread 1 · thread 2

Default history

Measured PG9.0–19 Beta 3 boot defaults
Versions Raw boot_val Unit Human value
PG15–19 Beta 3 10000 ms 10 s

How it works

log_startup_progress_interval defines the interval between progress updates for long-running startup operations. 0 disables progress updates. Startup processes emit periodic progress for operations such as WAL replay when they exceed the interval; zero disables these updates.

log_startup_progress_interval is a SIGHUP-context setting: a configuration reload activates the new server value without a restart; subsequent operations that consult it use the refreshed value.

It changes emitted diagnostic data rather than query semantics, but volume, sensitive content, log_line_prefix, destinations, collector throughput, and retention determine operational cost and usefulness.

Tuning advice

Tip

Advice. These are workload-specific starting points and must be validated with measurements.

Workload Guidance
OLTP Tune log_startup_progress_interval against an explicit observability question and a measured log-volume budget. Prefer selective thresholds, sampling, or role-level overrides over indiscriminate capture.
OLAP Analytical jobs can justify richer log_startup_progress_interval telemetry, but account for long statements, large bind values, and bursty completion patterns in the log pipeline.
Small nodes Keep log_startup_progress_interval useful but bounded: verify disk, collector, retention, and redaction capacity before increasing detail or frequency.

Pigsty

Values use the fixed 8-vCPU, 32-GiB, 100-GiB SSD fixture and render the current Pigsty templates for PG19 Beta 3; this does not assert current Pigsty support for that historical or beta release.

Template Effective value Versus upstream boot Source expression
OLTP Unmodified — —
OLAP Unmodified — —
CRIT Unmodified — —
TINY Unmodified — —
Caution

Advice — pending human review. Fact from the current Pigsty template projection: OLTP: PG15–19 Beta 3 unmodified; OLAP: PG15–19 Beta 3 unmodified; CRIT: PG15–19 Beta 3 unmodified; TINY: PG15–19 Beta 3 unmodified. No Pigsty-specific rationale is inferred from an absent override.

Common pitfalls

  • Editing log_startup_progress_interval without reloading configuration and verifying the effective value and subsequent behavior.
  • Enabling richer logging without budgeting collector throughput, storage, retention, and downstream query cost.
  • Writing SQL text, bind values, identities, or host data without a redaction and access-control policy.
  • Changing log_startup_progress_interval globally without a rollback plan and a client or operational compatibility test.

log_checkpoints · log_autovacuum_min_duration · log_lock_waits · log_lock_failures · log_temp_files · log_replication_commands

References