From 5033b6b6d0feea5539e364bb34bc48a159f83bf0 Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001
From: Sai Pranav <rajasaipranav0@gmail.com>
Date: Wed, 4 Nov 2026 21:06:27 +0530
Subject: [PATCH v1] doc: Fix pg_combinebackup's description of --sync-method

The description was copied from pg_basebackup and kept two references
to "the plain format", but pg_combinebackup has no output format option:
it always writes a plain data directory.  It also said that the "backup
directory" is synchronized, which is ambiguous for a tool whose inputs
are backup directories.  pg_combinebackup synchronizes the output
directory, always following the WAL directory and tablespace symbolic
links (and, with syncfs, syncing the file systems containing them).

Backpatch-through: 17
---
 doc/src/sgml/ref/pg_combinebackup.sgml | 11 +++++------
 1 file changed, 5 insertions(+), 6 deletions(-)

diff --git a/doc/src/sgml/ref/pg_combinebackup.sgml b/doc/src/sgml/ref/pg_combinebackup.sgml
index f5d7e177b36..7368af80c69 100644
--- a/doc/src/sgml/ref/pg_combinebackup.sgml
+++ b/doc/src/sgml/ref/pg_combinebackup.sgml
@@ -255,16 +255,15 @@ PostgreSQL documentation
        <para>
         When set to <literal>fsync</literal>, which is the default,
         <command>pg_combinebackup</command> will recursively open and synchronize
-        all files in the backup directory.  When the plain format is used, the
-        search for files will follow symbolic links for the WAL directory and
-        each configured tablespace.
+        all files in the output directory.  The search for files will follow
+        symbolic links for the WAL directory and each configured tablespace.
        </para>
        <para>
         On Linux, <literal>syncfs</literal> may be used instead to ask the
         operating system to synchronize the whole file system that contains the
-        backup directory.  When the plain format is used,
-        <command>pg_combinebackup</command> will also synchronize the file systems
-        that contain the WAL files and each tablespace.  See
+        output directory.  <command>pg_combinebackup</command> will also
+        synchronize the file systems that contain the WAL files and each
+        tablespace.  See
         <xref linkend="guc-recovery-init-sync-method"/> for information about
         the caveats to be aware of when using <literal>syncfs</literal>.
        </para>
-- 
2.50.1 (Apple Git-155)

