Remove buffers_backend and buffers_backend_fsync from pg_stat_checkpointer

Two attributes related to checkpointer statistics are removed in this
commit:
- buffers_backend, that counts the number of buffers written directly by
a backend.
- buffers_backend_fsync, that counts the number of times a backend had
to do fsync() by its own.

These are actually not checkpointer properties but backend properties.
Also, pg_stat_io provides a more accurate and equivalent report of these
numbers, by tracking all the I/O stats related to backends, including
writes and fsyncs, so storing them in pg_stat_checkpointer was
redundant.

Thanks also to Robert Haas and Amit Kapila for their input.

Bump catalog version.

Author: Bharath Rupireddy
Reviewed-by: Bertrand Drouvot, Andres Freund
Discussion: https://postgr.es/m/20230210004604.mcszbscsqs3bc5nx@awork3.anarazel.de

1 files changed, 2 insertions, 30 deletions

diff --git a/src/backend/postmaster/checkpointer.c b/src/backend/postmaster/checkpointer.c
index ace9893d957..4fe403c9a89 100644
--- a/src/backend/postmaster/checkpointer.c
+++ b/src/backend/postmaster/checkpointer.c
@@ -91,17 +91,11 @@
  * requesting backends since the last checkpoint start.  The flags are
  * chosen so that OR'ing is the correct way to combine multiple requests.
  *
- * num_backend_writes is used to count the number of buffer writes performed
- * by user backend processes.  This counter should be wide enough that it
- * can't overflow during a single processing cycle.  num_backend_fsync
- * counts the subset of those writes that also had to do their own fsync,
- * because the checkpointer failed to absorb their request.
- *
  * The requests array holds fsync requests sent by backends and not yet
  * absorbed by the checkpointer.
  *
- * Unlike the checkpoint fields, num_backend_writes, num_backend_fsync, and
- * the requests fields are protected by CheckpointerCommLock.
+ * Unlike the checkpoint fields, requests related fields are protected by
+ * CheckpointerCommLock.
  *----------
  */
 typedef struct
@@ -125,9 +119,6 @@ typedef struct
 	ConditionVariable start_cv; /* signaled when ckpt_started advances */
 	ConditionVariable done_cv;	/* signaled when ckpt_done advances */
 
-	uint32		num_backend_writes; /* counts user backend buffer writes */
-	uint32		num_backend_fsync;	/* counts user backend fsync calls */
-
 	int			num_requests;	/* current # of requests */
 	int			max_requests;	/* allocated array size */
 	CheckpointerRequest requests[FLEXIBLE_ARRAY_MEMBER];
@@ -1095,10 +1086,6 @@ ForwardSyncRequest(const FileTag *ftag, SyncRequestType type)
 
 	LWLockAcquire(CheckpointerCommLock, LW_EXCLUSIVE);
 
-	/* Count all backend writes regardless of if they fit in the queue */
-	if (!AmBackgroundWriterProcess())
-		CheckpointerShmem->num_backend_writes++;
-
 	/*
 	 * If the checkpointer isn't running or the request queue is full, the
 	 * backend will have to perform its own fsync request.  But before forcing
@@ -1108,12 +1095,6 @@ ForwardSyncRequest(const FileTag *ftag, SyncRequestType type)
 		(CheckpointerShmem->num_requests >= CheckpointerShmem->max_requests &&
 		 !CompactCheckpointerRequestQueue()))
 	{
-		/*
-		 * Count the subset of writes where backends have to do their own
-		 * fsync
-		 */
-		if (!AmBackgroundWriterProcess())
-			CheckpointerShmem->num_backend_fsync++;
 		LWLockRelease(CheckpointerCommLock);
 		return false;
 	}
@@ -1270,15 +1251,6 @@ AbsorbSyncRequests(void)
 
 	LWLockAcquire(CheckpointerCommLock, LW_EXCLUSIVE);
 
-	/* Transfer stats counts into pending pgstats message */
-	PendingCheckpointerStats.buf_written_backend
-		+= CheckpointerShmem->num_backend_writes;
-	PendingCheckpointerStats.buf_fsync_backend
-		+= CheckpointerShmem->num_backend_fsync;
-
-	CheckpointerShmem->num_backend_writes = 0;
-	CheckpointerShmem->num_backend_fsync = 0;
-
 	/*
 	 * We try to avoid holding the lock for a long time by copying the request
 	 * array, and processing the requests after releasing the lock.