Migration errors

Fix: psql "invalid command \restrict" when importing a dump

invalid command \restrict

When it happens

Importing a dump produced by pg_dump 16.10/17.6+ with an older psql client.

The 2025 PostgreSQL security releases added \restrict guard lines to dumps. Older psql clients don't recognize the meta-command and abort.

1. Upgrade psql to a 2025+ minor release

psql --version   # needs >= 16.10 / 17.6

2. Or strip the guard lines (safe for trusted dumps)

grep -v '^\\restrict\|^\\unrestrict' dump.sql > dump.clean.sql

3. Files from our converter

are already free of \restrict lines, so they import with any psql version.

Migrating between MySQL and PostgreSQL?

Our converter handles this and dozens of other gotchas automatically — upload a dump, download working SQL.