Re: [HACKERS] Another nasty cache problem

From: Bruce Momjian <pgman(at)candle(dot)pha(dot)pa(dot)us>
To: Tom Lane <tgl(at)sss(dot)pgh(dot)pa(dot)us>
Cc: pgsql-hackers(at)postgreSQL(dot)org
Subject: Re: [HACKERS] Another nasty cache problem
Date: 2000-01-30 21:56:14
Message-ID: 200001302156.QAA19093@candle.pha.pa.us
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> Bruce Momjian <pgman(at)candle(dot)pha(dot)pa(dot)us> writes:
> > Now, if we did proper locking, no SI message could arrive for such an
> > entry.
>
> > My assumption is that these are mostly system cache entries, and they
> > rarely change, right? If someone is operating on a table that gets an
> > SI entry, odds are that later on the system will fail because the table
> > is changed in some way, right?
>
> If the tuple is actually *changed* then that's true (and locking should
> have prevented it anyway). But we also issue cache flushes against
> whole system tables in order to handle VACUUM of a system table. There,
> the only thing that's actually been modified is the tuple's physical
> location (ctid). We don't want to blow away transactions that are just
> looking at cache entries when a VACUUM happens.
>
> Perhaps the caches shouldn't store ctid? Not sure.

I am guilt of that. There are a few place where I grab the tuple from
the cache, then use that to update the heap. I thought it was a nifty
solution at the time. I thought I used the CacheCopy calls for that,
but I am not positive. Even if I did, that doesn't help because the
copy probably has an invalid tid at that point, thought I have opened
the table. Maybe I have to make sure I open the table before geting the
tid from the cache.

Is it only the tid that is of concern. If so, that can probably be
fixed somehow.

--
Bruce Momjian | http://www.op.net/~candle
pgman(at)candle(dot)pha(dot)pa(dot)us | (610) 853-3000
+ If your life is a hard drive, | 830 Blythe Avenue
+ Christ can be your backup. | Drexel Hill, Pennsylvania 19026

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