Re[2]: [PATCH] Add pg_current_vxact_id() function to expose virtual transaction IDs

From: "Pavlo Golub" <pavlo(dot)golub(at)cybertec(dot)at>
To: assam258(at)gmail(dot)com
Cc: pgsql-hackers(at)lists(dot)postgresql(dot)org
Subject: Re[2]: [PATCH] Add pg_current_vxact_id() function to expose virtual transaction IDs
Date: 2026-01-06 13:32:16
Message-ID: em14322cd4-f84a-485d-b8d8-7dc2e2c58035@cybertec.at
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Hello.

Thanks for the review.

>
>Only pg_locks has it. And you can already get your VXID from there:
>
> SELECT virtualtransaction FROM pg_locks
> WHERE pid = pg_backend_pid() LIMIT 1;
While it is true that pg_locks contains the virtual transaction
information, I believe there are strong technical reasons to expose this
directly via a function.
First of all, querying pg_locks is expensive. By contrast,
pg_current_vxact_id() is a practically free O(1) read from MyProc.
The %v log placeholder is the specific identifier for individual
transaction executions (including read-only ones where no permanent XID
is assigned). PIDs (%p) are session-scoped and too coarse for helping
debug specific transactions in connection-pooled environments. This
function allows applications to easily obtain the ID needed to correlate
with server logs.
We already provide fast accessors for other identifiers like
pg_backend_pid() and pg_current_xact_id(). Additionally, PostgreSQL
often provides utility functions that overlap with other commands or
views to improve developer experience (e.g., pg_notify() vs NOTIFY,
pg_sleep() vs pg_sleep_for() vs pg_sleep_until()). It feels consistent
to offer a simple accessor rather than requiring a complex query against
a system view.

Best regards,
Pavlo Golub

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