new cli flag for initializing db first time service is ran

cmd/geth/config.go

@@ -187,6 +187,9 @@ func makeFullNode(ctx *cli.Context) (*node.Node, ethapi.Backend) {
 			} else {
 				utils.Fatalf("Must specify client name for statediff DB output")
 			}
+			if ctx.GlobalIsSet(utils.StateDiffDBInitFlag.Name) {
+				dbParams.Init = ctx.GlobalBool(utils.StateDiffDBInitFlag.Name)
+			}
 		} else {
 			if ctx.GlobalBool(utils.StateDiffWritingFlag.Name) {
 				utils.Fatalf("Must pass DB parameters if enabling statediff write loop")

cmd/geth/main.go

@@ -150,6 +150,7 @@ var (
 		utils.MinerNotifyFullFlag,
 		utils.StateDiffFlag,
 		utils.StateDiffDBFlag,
+		utils.StateDiffDBInitFlag,
 		utils.StateDiffDBNodeIDFlag,
 		utils.StateDiffDBClientNameFlag,
 		utils.StateDiffWritingFlag,

cmd/geth/usage.go

@@ -232,6 +232,7 @@ var AppHelpFlagGroups = []flags.FlagGroup{
 		Flags: []cli.Flag{
 			utils.StateDiffFlag,
 			utils.StateDiffDBFlag,
+			utils.StateDiffDBInitFlag,
 			utils.StateDiffDBNodeIDFlag,
 			utils.StateDiffDBClientNameFlag,
 			utils.StateDiffWritingFlag,

cmd/utils/flags.go

@@ -785,6 +785,10 @@ var (
 		Name:  "statediff.db",
 		Usage: "PostgreSQL database connection string for writing state diffs",
 	}
+	StateDiffDBInitFlag = cli.BoolFlag{
+		Name: "statediff.db.init",
+		Usage: "Whether or not the statediff database needs to be initialized; set true the first time this process is ran on a given database",
+	}
 	StateDiffDBNodeIDFlag = cli.StringFlag{
 		Name:  "statediff.dbnodeid",
 		Usage: "Node ID to use when writing state diffs to database",

statediff/types.go

@@ -39,6 +39,7 @@ type DBParams struct {
 	ConnectionURL string
 	ID            string
 	ClientName    string
+	Init 		  bool
 }
 
 // Params is used to carry in parameters from subscribing/requesting clients configuration