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authorPeter Geoghegan <pg@bowt.ie>2023-10-24 09:27:26 -0700
committerPeter Geoghegan <pg@bowt.ie>2023-10-24 09:27:26 -0700
commitcf89d3052d62a5dd82805d157b64cdf493e5e851 (patch)
tree84fcb32e3f59c3a2e2cee0288c80a7ceec658677
parent3b0f20f6ce145b0cd5aefa147a7e425b60601a58 (diff)
downloadpostgresql-cf89d3052d62a5dd82805d157b64cdf493e5e851.tar.gz
postgresql-cf89d3052d62a5dd82805d157b64cdf493e5e851.zip
Doc: indexUnchanged is strictly a hint.
Clearly spell out the limitations of aminsert()'s indexUnchanged hinting mechanism in the index AM documentation. Oversight in commit 9dc718bd, which added the "logically unchanged index" hint (which is used to trigger bottom-up index deletion). Author: Peter Geoghegan <pg@bowt.ie> Reported-By: Tom Lane <tgl@sss.pgh.pa.us> Reviewed-By: Tom Lane <tgl@sss.pgh.pa.us> Discussion: https://postgr.es/m/CAH2-WzmU_BQ=-H9L+bxTSMQBqHMjp1DSwGypvL0gKs+dTOfkKg@mail.gmail.com Backpatch: 14-, where indexUnchanged hinting was introduced.
-rw-r--r--doc/src/sgml/indexam.sgml10
1 files changed, 7 insertions, 3 deletions
diff --git a/doc/src/sgml/indexam.sgml b/doc/src/sgml/indexam.sgml
index e813e2b620a..30eda37afa8 100644
--- a/doc/src/sgml/indexam.sgml
+++ b/doc/src/sgml/indexam.sgml
@@ -332,9 +332,13 @@ aminsert (Relation indexRelation,
modify any columns covered by the index, but nevertheless requires a
new version in the index. The index AM may use this hint to decide
to apply bottom-up index deletion in parts of the index where many
- versions of the same logical row accumulate. Note that updating a
- non-key column does not affect the value of
- <literal>indexUnchanged</literal>.
+ versions of the same logical row accumulate. Note that updating a non-key
+ column or a column that only appears in a partial index predicate does not
+ affect the value of <literal>indexUnchanged</literal>. The core code
+ determines each tuple's <literal>indexUnchanged</literal> value using a low
+ overhead approach that allows both false positives and false negatives.
+ Index AMs must not treat <literal>indexUnchanged</literal> as an
+ authoritative source of information about tuple visibility or versioning.
</para>
<para>