Re: Indirect indexes

On Wed, Oct 19, 2016 at 9:21 AM, Simon Riggs <simon(at)2ndquadrant(dot)com> wrote:
> The main problem IMV is GIN indexes. It's relatively easy to discuss
> variable length PKs with btrees, but the GIN format is designed around
> use of 6byte values, so expanding beyond that would require
> significant redesign/reimplementation. That would be at least a year's
> work for not much benefit, so cannot occur for the first release.

That doesn't bother me. We can add an amcanindirect flag or similar.

>> The whole point of an indirect index is that it
>> doesn't disable HOT, and the physical location within the index page
>> you stick the PK value doesn't have any impact on whether that's safe.
>
> Agreed, though it does have an impact on the length of the index tuple
> and thus the size and effectiveness of the index.
>
> Perhaps its best to see the restriction to 6byte PKs as both the first
> phase of implementation and an optimization, rather than an ugly wart.

Perhaps, but I'm not ready to rule out "ugly wart".

--
Robert Haas
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