58.5. The Initialization Fork

Note: The following description applies both to Postgres-XC and PostgreSQL if not described explicitly. You can read PostgreSQL as Postgres-XC except for version number, which is specific to each product.

Each unlogged table, and each index on an unlogged table, has an initialization fork. The initialization fork is an empty table or index of the appropriate type. When an unlogged table must be reset to empty due to a crash, the initialization fork is copied over the main fork, and any other forks are erased (they will be recreated automatically as needed).