Skip WAL for new relfilenodes, under wal_level=minimal.

Until now, only selected bulk operations (e.g. COPY) did this.  If a
given relfilenode received both a WAL-skipping COPY and a WAL-logged
operation (e.g. INSERT), recovery could lose tuples from the COPY.  See
src/backend/access/transam/README section "Skipping WAL for New
RelFileNode" for the new coding rules.  Maintainers of table access
methods should examine that section.

To maintain data durability, just before commit, we choose between an
fsync of the relfilenode and copying its contents to WAL.  A new GUC,
wal_skip_threshold, guides that choice.  If this change slows a workload
that creates small, permanent relfilenodes under wal_level=minimal, try
adjusting wal_skip_threshold.  Users setting a timeout on COMMIT may
need to adjust that timeout, and log_min_duration_statement analysis
will reflect time consumption moving to COMMIT from commands like COPY.

Internally, this requires a reliable determination of whether
RollbackAndReleaseCurrentSubTransaction() would unlink a relation's
current relfilenode.  Introduce rd_firstRelfilenodeSubid.  Amend the
specification of rd_createSubid such that the field is zero when a new
rel has an old rd_node.  Make relcache.c retain entries for certain
dropped relations until end of transaction.

Back-patch to 9.5 (all supported versions).  This introduces a new WAL
record type, XLOG_GIST_ASSIGN_LSN, without bumping XLOG_PAGE_MAGIC.  As
always, update standby systems before master systems.  This changes
sizeof(RelationData) and sizeof(IndexStmt), breaking binary
compatibility for affected extensions.  (The most recent commit to
affect the same class of extensions was
089e4d405d0f3b94c74a2c6a54357a84a681754b.)

Kyotaro Horiguchi, reviewed (in earlier, similar versions) by Robert
Haas.  Heikki Linnakangas and Michael Paquier implemented earlier
designs that materially clarified the problem.  Reviewed, in earlier
designs, by Andrew Dunstan, Andres Freund, Alvaro Herrera, Tom Lane,
Fujii Masao, and Simon Riggs.  Reported by Martijn van Oosterhout.

Discussion: https://postgr.es/m/20150702220524.GA9392@svana.org

1 files changed, 8 insertions, 14 deletions

diff --git a/src/backend/access/heap/heapam.c b/src/backend/access/heap/heapam.c
index 42c9e3bbaea..09ede4879f7 100644
--- a/src/backend/access/heap/heapam.c
+++ b/src/backend/access/heap/heapam.c
@@ -21,7 +21,6 @@
  *		heap_multi_insert - insert multiple tuples into a relation
  *		heap_delete		- delete a tuple from a relation
  *		heap_update		- replace a tuple in a relation with another tuple
- *		heap_sync		- sync heap, for when no WAL has been written
  *
  * NOTES
  *	  This file contains the heap_ routines which implement
@@ -1936,7 +1935,7 @@ heap_insert(Relation relation, HeapTuple tup, CommandId cid,
 	MarkBufferDirty(buffer);
 
 	/* XLOG stuff */
-	if (!(options & HEAP_INSERT_SKIP_WAL) && RelationNeedsWAL(relation))
+	if (RelationNeedsWAL(relation))
 	{
 		xl_heap_insert xlrec;
 		xl_heap_header xlhdr;
@@ -2119,7 +2118,7 @@ heap_multi_insert(Relation relation, TupleTableSlot **slots, int ntuples,
 	/* currently not needed (thus unsupported) for heap_multi_insert() */
 	AssertArg(!(options & HEAP_INSERT_NO_LOGICAL));
 
-	needwal = !(options & HEAP_INSERT_SKIP_WAL) && RelationNeedsWAL(relation);
+	needwal = RelationNeedsWAL(relation);
 	saveFreeSpace = RelationGetTargetPageFreeSpace(relation,
 												   HEAP_DEFAULT_FILLFACTOR);
 
@@ -8921,18 +8920,13 @@ heap2_redo(XLogReaderState *record)
 }
 
 /*
- *	heap_sync		- sync a heap, for use when no WAL has been written
- *
- * This forces the heap contents (including TOAST heap if any) down to disk.
- * If we skipped using WAL, and WAL is otherwise needed, we must force the
- * relation down to disk before it's safe to commit the transaction.  This
- * requires writing out any dirty buffers and then doing a forced fsync.
+ *	heap_sync		- for binary compatibility
  *
- * Indexes are not touched.  (Currently, index operations associated with
- * the commands that use this are WAL-logged and so do not need fsync.
- * That behavior might change someday, but in any case it's likely that
- * any fsync decisions required would be per-index and hence not appropriate
- * to be done here.)
+ * A newer PostgreSQL version removes this function.  It exists here just in
+ * case an extension calls it.  See "Skipping WAL for New RelFileNode" in
+ * src/backend/access/transam/README for the system that superseded it,
+ * allowing removal of most calls.  Cases like RelationCopyStorage() should
+ * call smgrimmedsync() directly.
  */
 void
 heap_sync(Relation rel)