Fix tuple deformation with virtual generated NOT NULL columns

From: Chao Li <li(dot)evan(dot)chao(at)gmail(dot)com>
To: Postgres hackers <pgsql-hackers(at)lists(dot)postgresql(dot)org>
Cc: David Rowley <dgrowleyml(at)gmail(dot)com>
Subject: Fix tuple deformation with virtual generated NOT NULL columns
Date: 2026-06-04 05:57:05
Message-ID: A4BC563C-0CA3-4EF3-952A-EA41F9E5BF1E@gmail.com
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Hi,

While testing "Optimize tuple deformation”, I found a bug:
```
evantest=# create table t (a int not null,
evantest(# g int generated always as (a+1) virtual not null,
evantest(# b int not null);
CREATE TABLE
evantest=# insert into t (a, b) values (10, 20);
INSERT 0 1
evantest=# select a, g, b from t;
a | g | b
----+----+---
10 | 11 | 0
(1 row)
```

Here, b was inserted as 20, but select only returned 0.

I think the problem is in finding the first non-guaranteed attribute where virtual generated attributes are not considered:
```
for (int i = 0; i < tupdesc->natts; i++)
{
CompactAttribute *cattr = TupleDescCompactAttr(tupdesc, i);

/*
* Find the highest attnum which is guaranteed to exist in all tuples
* in the table. We currently only pay attention to byval attributes
* to allow additional optimizations during tuple deformation.
*/
if (firstNonGuaranteedAttr == tupdesc->natts &&
(cattr->attnullability != ATTNULLABLE_VALID || !cattr->attbyval ||
cattr->atthasmissing || cattr->attisdropped || cattr->attlen <= 0))
firstNonGuaranteedAttr = i;
```

To fix this, we should consider virtual generated attributes as non-guaranteed. The tricky part is that cattr->attgenerated is only a boolean and cannot distinguish virtual generated from stored. So we have to further check TupleDescAttr(tupdesc, i)->attgenerated. In the patch, I changed the check as follows:
```
if (firstNonGuaranteedAttr == tupdesc->natts &&
(cattr->attnullability != ATTNULLABLE_VALID || !cattr->attbyval ||
cattr->atthasmissing || cattr->attisdropped || cattr->attlen <= 0 ||
(cattr->attgenerated &&
TupleDescAttr(tupdesc, i)->attgenerated == ATTRIBUTE_GENERATED_VIRTUAL)))
firstNonGuaranteedAttr = i;
```

This way, we only check TupleDescAttr(tupdesc, i)->attgenerated when needed.

See the attached patch for details. I also added a regression test case to cover this fix. With the fix, select now returns correct values:
```
evantest=# select a, g, b from t;
a | g | b
----+----+----
10 | 11 | 20
(1 row)
```

Best regards,
--
Chao Li (Evan)
HighGo Software Co., Ltd.
https://www.highgo.com/

Attachment Content-Type Size
v1-0001-Fix-tuple-deformation-with-virtual-generated-NOT-.patch application/octet-stream 4.0 KB

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