Re: B-tree page deletion boundary cases

From: Noah Misch <noah(at)leadboat(dot)com>
To: Nikhil Sontakke <nikkhils(at)gmail(dot)com>
Cc: pgsql-hackers(at)postgresql(dot)org
Subject: Re: B-tree page deletion boundary cases
Date: 2012-04-23 15:52:21
Message-ID: 20120423155221.GA20512@tornado.leadboat.com
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On Sun, Apr 22, 2012 at 12:13:34AM +0530, Nikhil Sontakke wrote:
> Was wondering if there's a similar bug which gets triggered while using
> VACUUM FULL. See for instance this thread:
>
> http://postgresql.1045698.n5.nabble.com/index-corruption-in-PG-8-3-13-td4257589.html
>
> This issue has been reported on-off from time to time and in most cases
> VACUUM or VACUUM FULL appears to be involved. We have usually attributed it
> to hardware issues and reindex has been recommended by default as a
> solution/work around..

I do not perceive much similarity. The bug I've raised can produce wrong
query results transiently. It might permit injecting a tuple into the wrong
spot in the tree, yielding persistent wrong results. It would not introduce
tree-structural anomalies like sibling pointers directed at zeroed pages or
internal pages in an 1-level tree. Given the symptoms you reported, I share
Robert's suspicion of WAL replay in your scenario.

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