remove_temp_files_after_crash

remove_temp_files_after_crash — Remove temporary files after backend crash. Observed in PG14–19 Beta 3; its last measured boot default is on in PG19 Beta 3, with sighup context. This is a beta-snapshot fact and can change before PostgreSQL 19 GA.

Note

Fact — official short description: “Remove temporary files after backend crash.”

Identity

Type , Valuebool: Upstream pg_settings type
Context , Valuesighup: Takes effect after configuration reload
Unit , Value—: Raw unit
Range , Value—: Raw limits in the last observed version
Enum values , Value—: — for non-enum types
Category , ValueDeveloper Options: Upstream classification
Latest boot value , Valueon: on

Lifecycle

Fact	Value
First observed	PG14
Present in	PG14–19 Beta 3
Removed in	No
Introduction commit	`cd91de0d1795` — Remove temporary files after backend crash
Commit date	2021-03-18
Discussion	thread 1

Default history

Measured PG9.0–19 Beta 3 boot defaults
Versions	Raw `boot_val`	Unit	Human value
PG14–19 Beta 3	`on`	—	on

How it works

After a backend crash, remove_temp_files_after_crash controls whether PostgreSQL removes temporary files left by the failed process. on is the normal cleanup behavior.

Turning it off preserves artifacts for forensic debugging but repeated failures can accumulate useless files and exhaust the temporary-file file systems.

The setting does not prevent a crash, recover query state, or retain ordinary temporary tables for reuse. Any forensic retention needs explicit space monitoring and later cleanup. Its SIGHUP context allows configuration reload without a server restart.

Tuning advice

Tip

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

Workload	Guidance
OLTP	Do not tune production OLTP with remove_temp_files_after_crash. Enable it only for a bounded reproduction with an owner, log/disk budget, rollback condition, and evidence-capture plan; restore the default immediately afterward.
OLAP	Long analytical runs can amplify remove_temp_files_after_crash’s debug overhead and artifacts. Prefer standard EXPLAIN and statistics first, and isolate any developer experiment from normal users.
Small nodes	Keep remove_temp_files_after_crash at its upstream default. A small host has less spare CPU, disk, connection, and log capacity for developer instrumentation.

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: PG14–19 Beta 3 unmodified; OLAP: PG14–19 Beta 3 unmodified; CRIT: PG14–19 Beta 3 unmodified; TINY: PG14–19 Beta 3 unmodified. No Pigsty-specific rationale is inferred from an absent override.

Common pitfalls

Leaving remove_temp_files_after_crash enabled after the bounded diagnostic or recovery task.
Running the experiment on the only copy of production data.
Underestimating log, core-file, temporary-file, WAL, CPU, or connection-slot amplification.
Treating a server that merely starts or completes a query as proof that data and behavior are correct.

temp_file_limit · temp_tablespaces · log_temp_files · send_abort_for_crash