When working with phpPgAdmin's export functionality, encountering empty SQL dumps despite populated databases is a known issue that typically stems from permission conflicts or configuration problems. Let's examine the technical specifics.

First, verify these critical components:

-- Check database accessibility:
SELECT current_database();
-- Verify table contents:
SELECT * FROM pg_tables WHERE schemaname = 'public';

Three primary culprits typically cause this behavior:

• PHP execution time limits
• PostgreSQL role permissions
• Output buffering issues

The exporting user must have SELECT privileges on all tables. Run this as a superuser:

GRANT SELECT ON ALL TABLES IN SCHEMA public TO your_username;
GRANT USAGE ON SCHEMA public TO your_username;

Add these settings to your php.ini if exporting large databases:

max_execution_time = 300
memory_limit = 256M
output_buffering = Off

If phpPgAdmin persists, consider direct pg_dump commands:

pg_dump -U username -h localhost -p 5432 dbname > output.sql
# For compressed exports:
pg_dump -U username dbname | gzip > filename.sql.gz

Enable debugging in phpPgAdmin's config.inc.php:

$conf['debug'] = true;
ini_set('display_errors', '1');
error_reporting(E_ALL);

Check the web server's error logs after attempting an export to identify any PHP warnings or PostgreSQL connection issues.

For large databases, try exporting individual schemas or tables first to isolate the problem component.

-- Export specific schema
pg_dump -U username -n schemaname dbname > schema.sql
-- Export single table
pg_dump -U username -t schemaname.tablename dbname > table.sql

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When working with phpPgAdmin, encountering an empty SQL dump during PostgreSQL database export can be particularly frustrating. Here's what I discovered through my troubleshooting process:

Several factors could contribute to this behavior:

• Permission issues on the database or tables
• Character encoding conflicts
• PHP memory limit restrictions
• Server-side timeout settings
• Special characters in table names

First, verify the database contents directly through psql:

psql -U username -d databasename -c "SELECT count(*) FROM pg_tables;"

Check phpPgAdmin's export configuration:

// In config.inc.php
$conf['servers'][0]['pg_dump_path'] = '/usr/bin/pg_dump';
$conf['servers'][0]['pg_dumpall_path'] = '/usr/bin/pg_dumpall';

If phpPgAdmin continues to fail, try these command-line alternatives.

Basic pg_dump command:

pg_dump -U username -W -F p -b -v -f backup.sql databasename

For large databases:

pg_dump -U username -j 8 -F d -f /backups/databasename databasename

Add this to your PHP configuration if memory is an issue:

ini_set('memory_limit', '512M');
set_time_limit(0);

Enable debugging to identify the exact failure point:

$conf['debug'] = true;
error_reporting(E_ALL);
ini_set('display_errors', '1');

After implementing fixes, verify the export with:

file backup.sql
head -n 20 backup.sql