Cristian Veronesi <c.veronesi@crpa.it> writes:
> If I try to use a function that returns the current time instead, a
> sequential scan is always performed:
> ...
> Any suggestion?
1. Use something newer than 7.4 ;-)
2. Set up a dummy range constraint, ie
select ... where ora_rif > localtimestamp and ora_rif < 'infinity';
The problem you have is that the planner doesn't know the value of the
function and falls back to a default assumption about the selectivity of
the '>' condition --- and that default discourages indexscans. (Note
the very large estimate of number of rows returned.) In the
range-constraint situation, the planner still doesn't know the value of
the function, but its default assumption for a range constraint is
tighter and it (probably) will choose an indexscan.
Since PG 8.0, the planner understands that it's reasonable to
pre-evaluate certain functions like localtimestamp to obtain
better-than-guess values about selectivity, so updating would
be a better fix.
regards, tom lane
