redhat man page for ipcclean

IPCCLEAN(1)						  PostgreSQL Server Applications					       IPCCLEAN(1)

NAME
       ipcclean - remove shared memory and semaphores from an aborted PostgreSQL server

SYNOPSIS
       ipcclean

DESCRIPTION
       ipcclean removes all shared memory segments and semaphore sets owned by the current user. It is intended to be used for cleaning up after a
       crashed PostgreSQL server (postmaster(1)). Note that immediately restarting the server will also clean up shared memory and semaphores,	so
       this command is of little real utility.

       Only the database administrator should execute this program as it can cause bizarre behavior (i.e., crashes) if run during multiuser execu-
       tion. If this command is executed while a postmaster is running, the shared memory and semaphores  allocated  by  the  postmaster  will	be
       deleted. This will result in a general failure of the backend servers started by that postmaster.

NOTES
       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.
       Since the postmaster can now clean up by itself, it is unlikely that ipcclean will be improved upon in the future.

       The script makes assumption about the format of output of the ipcs utility which may  not  be  true  across  different  operating  systems.
       Therefore, it may not work on your particular OS.

Application							    2002-11-22							       IPCCLEAN(1)