Re: Support for 8-byte TOAST values (aka the TOAST infinite loop problem)

Hi!

Hannu, we'd already made an attempt to extract the TOAST functionality as
API
and make it extensible and usable by other AMs in [1], the patch set was
met calmly
but we still have some hopes on it.

Michael, glad you continue this work! Took patch set for review.

[1] Pluggable TOAST
<https://www.postgresql.org/message-id/flat/224711f9-83b7-a307-b17f-4457ab73aa0a%40sigaev.ru>

--
Regards,
Nikita Malakhov
Postgres Professional
The Russian Postgres Company
https://postgrespro.ru/

On Fri, Jul 4, 2025 at 2:03 PM Hannu Krosing <hannuk(at)google(dot)com> wrote:

> Hi Michael
>
> I'll take a look at the patch set.
>
> While digging around in the TOAST code did you have any ideas on how
> one could extract the TOAST APIs in a way that they can be added in
> Table Access Method definition ?
>
> Not all TAMs need TOAST, but the ones that do could also be the ones
> that still like to do something different when materializing toasted
> values.
>
> And TOAST is actually a nice abstraction which could be used as basis
> for both offloading more columns into separate forks and files as well
> as implementing some kinds of vectored, columnar and compressed
> storages.
>
> ----
> Hannu
>