Re: ERROR: invalid memory alloc request size <a_big_number_here>

From: Tom Lane <tgl(at)sss(dot)pgh(dot)pa(dot)us>
To: Alvaro Herrera <alvherre(at)alvh(dot)no-ip(dot)org>
Cc: Matteo Beccati <php(at)beccati(dot)com>, Martijn van Oosterhout <kleptog(at)svana(dot)org>, pgsql-hackers(at)postgresql(dot)org
Subject: Re: ERROR: invalid memory alloc request size <a_big_number_here>
Date: 2005-10-27 14:23:07
Message-ID: 18713.1130422987@sss.pgh.pa.us
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Alvaro Herrera <alvherre(at)alvh(dot)no-ip(dot)org> writes:
> I think the problem is that CreateMultiXactId calls
> GetNewMultiXactId and then RecordNewMultiXact, and the lock is released
> between the calls. So one backend could try to read the offset before
> another one had the time to finish writing it.

Ugh, yes, that is clearly a hole :-( even if it turns out not to explain
Matteo's observation.

I don't see any easy way to fix this except by introducing a lot more
locking than is there now --- ie, holding the MultiXactGenLock until the
new mxact's starting offset has been written to disk. Any better ideas?

regards, tom lane

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