Re: Dead Space Map

Tom Lane wrote:
> Bruce Momjian <pgman@candle.pha.pa.us> writes:
> > Tom Lane wrote:
> >> MVCC goes out the window, eh?  Not to mention transaction rollback ability?
> 
> > If the old row is not visible to any transactions, why would it not work?
> 
> The old row is ALWAYS visible to somebody, until you commit (if you ever
> do).  You can't simply overwrite existing data.

Huh, I am not suggesting overwriting tuples you created, but tuples
created by earlier transactions and now invisible to everyone.

I should be clearer.  Suppose you have a table with a single index on
the primary key.  You are updating the row over and over again (a
typical case).  You create the first row, commit, then it is updated
(two copies), commit, then you update it again.  That first created row
might not be visible to anyone, but has the same index value as the new
row you are about to add.  Why not reused that heap tuple?

--  Bruce Momjian   http://candle.pha.pa.us SRA OSS, Inc.   http://www.sraoss.com
 + If your life is a hard drive, Christ can be your backup. +