Re: pgsql: Fix two bugs induced in VACUUM FULL byasync-commit patch.

On Mon, 2007-08-13 at 19:08 +0000, Tom Lane wrote:
> Log Message:
> -----------
> Fix two bugs induced in VACUUM FULL by async-commit patch.
>
> First, we cannot assume that XLogAsyncCommitFlush guarantees hint bits will be
> settable, because clog.c's inexact LSN bookkeeping results in windows where a
> previously flushed transaction is considered unhintable because it shares an
> LSN slot with a later unflushed transaction.  But repair_frag requires
> XMIN_COMMITTED to be correct so that it can distinguish tuples moved by the
> current vacuum.  Since not being able to set the bit is an uncommon corner
> case, the most practical way of dealing with it seems to be to abandon
> shrinking (ie, don't invoke repair_frag) when we find a non-dead tuple whose
> XMIN_COMMITTED bit couldn't be set.
>
> Second, it is possible for the same reason that a RECENTLY_DEAD tuple does not
> get its XMAX_COMMITTED bit set during scan_heap.  But by the time repair_frag
> examines the tuple it might be possible to set the bit.  We therefore must
> take buffer content lock when calling HeapTupleSatisfiesVacuum a second time,
> else we can get an Assert failure in SetBufferCommitInfoNeedsSave.  This
> latter bug is latent in existing releases, but I think it cannot actually
> occur without async commit, since the first HeapTupleSatisfiesVacuum call
> should always have set the bit.  So I'm not going to back-patch it.
>
> In passing, reduce the existing "cannot shrink relation" messages from NOTICE
> to LOG level.  The new message must be no higher than LOG if we don't want
> unpredictable regression test failures, and consistency seems like a good
> idea.  Also arrange that only one such message is reported per VACUUM FULL;
> in typical scenarios you could get spammed with many such messages, which
> seems a bit useless.

This is good; I see what you meant now. Thanks.

--
  Simon Riggs
  EnterpriseDB  http://www.enterprisedb.com