A new function to wait for the backend exit after termination

From: Bharath Rupireddy <bharath(dot)rupireddyforpostgres(at)gmail(dot)com>
To: PostgreSQL-development <pgsql-hackers(at)postgresql(dot)org>, Fujii Masao <masao(dot)fujii(at)oss(dot)nttdata(dot)com>
Subject: A new function to wait for the backend exit after termination
Date: 2020-10-21 13:02:15
Message-ID: CALj2ACUBpunmyhYZw-kXCYs5NM+h6oG_7Df_Tn4mLmmUQifkqA@mail.gmail.com
Views: Raw Message | Whole Thread | Download mbox | Resend email
Thread:
Lists: pgsql-hackers

Hi,

Currently pg_terminate_backend(), sends SIGTERM to the backend process but
doesn't ensure it's exit. There are chances that backends still are
running(even after pg_terminate_backend() is called) until the interrupts
are processed(using ProcessInterrupts()). This could cause problems
especially in testing, for instance in a sql file right after
pg_terminate_backend(), if any test case depends on the backend's
non-existence[1], but the backend is not terminated. As discussed in [1],
we have wait_pid()(see regress.c and sql/dblink.sql), but it's not usable
across the system. In [1], we thought it would be better to have functions
ensuring the backend's exit on the similar lines of pg_terminate_backend().

I propose to have two functions:

1. pg_terminate_backend_and_wait() -- which sends SIGTERM to the backend
and wait's until it's exit.
2. pg_wait_backend() -- which waits for a given backend process. Note that
this function has to be used carefully after pg_terminate_backend(), if
used on a backend that's not ternmited it simply keeps waiting in a loop.

Attaching a WIP patch herewith.

Thoughts?

[1]
https://www.postgresql.org/message-id/flat/f31cc4da-a7ea-677f-cf64-a2f9db854bf5%40oss.nttdata.com

With Regards,
Bharath Rupireddy.
EnterpriseDB: http://www.enterprisedb.com

Attachment Content-Type Size
v1-0001-pg_terminate_backend_and_wait.patch application/x-patch 3.6 KB

Responses

Browse pgsql-hackers by date

  From Date Subject
Next Message Magnus Hagander 2020-10-21 13:13:36 Re: A new function to wait for the backend exit after termination
Previous Message Justin Pryzby 2020-10-21 11:54:53 Re: CREATE TABLE .. PARTITION OF fails to preserve tgenabled for inherited row triggers