VACUUM FULL, CLUSTER, and REPACK block on other sessions' temp tables

From: Jim Jones <jim(dot)jones(at)uni-muenster(dot)de>
To: PostgreSQL Hackers <pgsql-hackers(at)lists(dot)postgresql(dot)org>
Cc: Antonin Houska <ah(at)cybertec(dot)at>
Subject: VACUUM FULL, CLUSTER, and REPACK block on other sessions' temp tables
Date: 2026-03-24 15:35:39
Message-ID: 0b555318-2bf2-46df-9377-09629a2a59db@uni-muenster.de
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Hi,

While testing another patch [1], I noticed that REPACK is blocked when a
temporary table is locked in another session. It also turns out that the
same behaviour occurs with VACUUM FULL and CLUSTER:

== session 1 ==

$ psql postgres
psql (19devel)
Type "help" for help.

postgres=# CREATE TEMPORARY TABLE tmp (id int);
CREATE TABLE
postgres=# BEGIN;
LOCK TABLE tmp IN SHARE MODE;
BEGIN
LOCK TABLE
postgres=*#

== session 2 ==

$ psql postgres
psql (19devel)
Type "help" for help.

postgres=# REPACK;
^CCancel request sent
ERROR: canceling statement due to user request
CONTEXT: waiting for AccessExclusiveLock on relation 38458 of database 5
postgres=# VACUUM FULL;
^CCancel request sent
ERROR: canceling statement due to user request
CONTEXT: waiting for AccessExclusiveLock on relation 38458 of database 5

Skipping temporary relations in get_tables_to_repack() and
get_all_vacuum_rels() before they're appended to the list seems to do
the trick -- see attached draft.

I can reproduce the same behaviour with CLUSTER and VACUUM FULL in
PG14-PG18. I took a quick look at the code in PG17 and PG18 and the fix
appears to be straightforward, but before I start working on it, I'd
like to hear your thoughts. Is it worth the effort?

Best, Jim

1 - https://www.postgresql.org/message-id/13637.1774342137%40localhost

Attachment Content-Type Size
v1-0001-Skip-other-sessions-temp-tables-in-REPACK-CLUSTER.patch text/x-patch 2.8 KB

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