Re: [HACKERS] Notice: heap_open/close changes committed

Tom Lane wrote:
> 
> > This is the old bug (pre-6.5.X released WRITE lock just after
> > system table was modified). I had no time to fix it and so
> > just changed old WRITE lock with new AccessExclusiveLock.
> 
> I do not think changing RowExclusiveLock back to AccessExclusiveLock
> will fix it unless we hold the lock till end of transaction, no?

Yes.

> That seems like much too high a price to pay.

That's why I proposed to use Exclusive lock (it doesn't conflict
with AccessShareLock used by readers).

> > But we have to handle this in proper way (wait if t_xmax
> > is id of an active transaction).
> 
> Yes.  Where is the code that does this right in the regular executor?
> I will see what needs to be done to make the system table accesses
> act the same.

Sorry - I messed things up: heap_replace/heap_delete wait for
concurrent update, but doesn't update/delete modified tuple.
They return result code (HeapTupleMayBeUpdated etc in utils/tqual.h)
and it's up to caller decide what to do if tuple modified by
concurrent transaction.
For _updated_ tuple TID of new tuple version is also returned
(if requested)...

Examples of how this is handled/used by Executor are
in execMain.c (just search for HeapTupleUpdated).

Vadim