pgsql: Fix handling of multixacts predating pg_upgrade

From: Alvaro Herrera <alvherre(at)alvh(dot)no-ip(dot)org>
To: pgsql-committers(at)postgresql(dot)org
Subject: pgsql: Fix handling of multixacts predating pg_upgrade
Date: 2016-06-24 22:41:58
Message-ID: E1bGZnS-00073h-Ug@gemulon.postgresql.org
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Fix handling of multixacts predating pg_upgrade

After pg_upgrade, it is possible that some tuples' Xmax have multixacts
corresponding to the old installation; such multixacts cannot have
running members anymore. In many code sites we already know not to read
them and clobber them silently, but at least when VACUUM tries to freeze
a multixact or determine whether one needs freezing, there's an attempt
to resolve it to its member transactions by calling GetMultiXactIdMembers,
and if the multixact value is "in the future" with regards to the
current valid multixact range, an error like this is raised:
ERROR: MultiXactId 123 has not been created yet -- apparent wraparound
and vacuuming fails. Per discussion with Andrew Gierth, it is completely
bogus to try to resolve multixacts coming from before a pg_upgrade,
regardless of where they stand with regards to the current valid
multixact range.

It's possible to get from under this problem by doing SELECT FOR UPDATE
of the problem tuples, but if tables are large, this is slow and
tedious, so a more thorough solution is desirable.

To fix, we realize that multixacts in xmax created in 9.2 and previous
have a specific bit pattern that is never used in 9.3 and later (we
already knew this, per comments and infomask tests sprinkled in various
places, but we weren't leveraging this knowledge appropriately).
Whenever the infomask of the tuple matches that bit pattern, we just
ignore the multixact completely as if Xmax wasn't set; or, in the case
of tuple freezing, we act as if an unwanted value is set and clobber it
without decoding. This guarantees that no errors will be raised, and
that the values will be progressively removed until all tables are
clean. Most callers of GetMultiXactIdMembers are patched to recognize
directly that the value is a removable "empty" multixact and avoid
calling GetMultiXactIdMembers altogether.

To avoid changing the signature of GetMultiXactIdMembers() in back
branches, we keep the "allow_old" boolean flag but rename it to
"from_pgupgrade"; if the flag is true, we always return an empty set
instead of looking up the multixact. (I suppose we could remove the
argument in the master branch, but I chose not to do so in this commit).

This was broken all along, but the error-facing message appeared first
because of commit 8e9a16ab8f7f and was partially fixed in a25c2b7c4db3.
This fix, backpatched all the way back to 9.3, goes approximately in the
same direction as a25c2b7c4db3 but should cover all cases.

Bug analysis by Andrew Gierth and Álvaro Herrera.

A number of public reports match this bug:
https://www.postgresql.org/message-id/20140330040029.GY4582@tamriel.snowman.net
https://www.postgresql.org/message-id/538F3D70.6080902@publicrelay.com
https://www.postgresql.org/message-id/556439CF.7070109@pscs.co.uk
https://www.postgresql.org/message-id/SG2PR06MB0760098A111C88E31BD4D96FB3540@SG2PR06MB0760.apcprd06.prod.outlook.com
https://www.postgresql.org/message-id/20160615203829.5798.4594@wrigleys.postgresql.org

Branch
------
REL9_4_STABLE

Details
-------
http://git.postgresql.org/pg/commitdiff/61b24fef89a9f7e381e6d83029b63e062d32812b

Modified Files
--------------
contrib/pgrowlocks/pgrowlocks.c | 3 +-
src/backend/access/heap/heapam.c | 52 ++++++++++++++++----------------
src/backend/access/transam/multixact.c | 55 +++++++++++++++++-----------------
src/backend/utils/time/tqual.c | 29 ++++++++----------
src/include/access/htup_details.h | 25 ++++++++++++++++
5 files changed, 92 insertions(+), 72 deletions(-)

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