incremental backups cannot be taken unless WAL summarization is ena…

Symptoms

A statement failed with SQLSTATE 55000 (object_not_in_prerequisite_state), reported at severity ERROR. This is a Object Not In Prerequisite State condition: PostgreSQL emits the message incremental backups cannot be taken unless WAL summarization is enabled.

• The client receives SQLSTATE 55000 (object not in prerequisite state).
• The operation is rejected at ERROR level; the statement does not complete.

What the server log shows

ERROR:  incremental backups cannot be taken unless WAL summarization is enabled

Why PostgreSQL raises this

Class 55 (Object Not In Prerequisite State) is raised when an object exists but is not in a state that allows the requested operation right now.

As described in PostgreSQL’s Appendix A PostgreSQL Error Codes, SQLSTATE 55000 carries the condition name object_not_in_prerequisite_state in class Object Not In Prerequisite State. (Paraphrased — see the linked reference for the exact wording.)

Common causes

• The object is locked, in use, or being modified by another session.
• A required precondition (e.g. an index, a prepared state) is not met.
• The operation cannot run while the object is in its current state.

How to fix it

1. Wait for the conflicting session/operation to finish, then retry.
2. Establish the missing precondition before retrying.
3. Check for blocking locks with pg_locks.

Version applicability

This message text is present in PostgreSQL 17, 18, 19. It was introduced around PostgreSQL 17; earlier releases do not emit this exact text.

Related & next steps

• SQLSTATE 55000 — Object Not In Prerequisite State (full reference)
• PostgreSQL error code index

Reference: PostgreSQL Appendix A PostgreSQL Error Codes.