Re: [proposal] de-TOAST'ing using a iterator

On 2019-Sep-10, Binguo Bao wrote:

> +/*
> + * Support for de-TOASTing toasted value iteratively. "need" is a pointer
> + * between the beginning and end of iterator's ToastBuffer. The marco
> + * de-TOAST all bytes before "need" into iterator's ToastBuffer.
> + */
> +#define PG_DETOAST_ITERATE(iter, need) \
> + do { \
> + Assert((need) >= (iter)->buf->buf && (need) <= (iter)->buf->capacity); \
> + while (!(iter)->done && (need) >= (iter)->buf->limit) { \
> + detoast_iterate(iter); \
> + } \
> + } while (0)
> /* WARNING -- unaligned pointer */
> #define PG_DETOAST_DATUM_PACKED(datum) \
> pg_detoast_datum_packed((struct varlena *) DatumGetPointer(datum))

In broad terms this patch looks pretty good to me. I only have a small
quibble with this API definition in fmgr.h -- namely that it forces us
to export the definition of all the structs (that could otherwise be
private to toast_internals.h) in order to satisfy callers of this macro.
I am wondering if it would be possible to change detoast_iterate and
PG_DETOAST_ITERATE in a way that those details remain hidden -- I am
thinking something like "if this returns NULL, then iteration has
finished"; and relieve the macro from doing the "->buf->buf" and
"->buf->limit" checks. I think changing that would require a change in
how the rest of the code is structured around this (the textpos internal
function), but seems like it would be better overall.

(AFAICS that would enable us to expose much less about the
iterator-related structs to detoast.h -- you should be able to move the
struct defs to toast_internals.h)

Then again, it might be just wishful thinking, but it seems worth
considering at least.

--
Álvaro Herrera https://www.2ndQuadrant.com/
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