Re: BUG #15492: pg_cancel_backend(pg_backend_pid()) returns true sporadically - Mailing list pgsql-bugs

From Magnus Hagander
Subject Re: BUG #15492: pg_cancel_backend(pg_backend_pid()) returns true sporadically
Date
Msg-id CABUevEySKe_PvpVqqPaGhOmTkmaQtN+D4CsDoFGGFWfbVGgPng@mail.gmail.com
Whole thread Raw
In response to BUG #15492: pg_cancel_backend(pg_backend_pid()) returns truesporadically  (PG Bug reporting form <noreply@postgresql.org>)
Responses Re: BUG #15492: pg_cancel_backend(pg_backend_pid()) returns truesporadically  (Michael Paquier <michael@paquier.xyz>)
Re: BUG #15492: pg_cancel_backend(pg_backend_pid()) returns true sporadically  (Thomas Munro <thomas.munro@enterprisedb.com>)
List pgsql-bugs
On Thu, Nov 8, 2018 at 5:31 AM PG Bug reporting form <noreply@postgresql.org> wrote:
The following bug has been logged on the website:

Bug reference:      15492
Logged by:          Alexander Lakhin
Email address:      exclusion@gmail.com
PostgreSQL version: 11.0
Operating system:   Windows 2012 R2
Description:       

When performing `make standbycheck` I get sporadic failure:

============== running regression test queries        ==============
test hs_standby_check         ... ok
test hs_standby_allowed       ... ok
test hs_standby_disallowed    ... ok
test hs_standby_functions     ... FAILED

======================
 1 of 4 tests failed.
======================

***
C:/tmp/postgrespro-standard-10.6.1/src/test/regress/expected/hs_standby_functions.out   Wed
Nov  7 01:14:03 2018
---
C:/tmp/postgrespro-standard-10.6.1/src/test/regress/results/hs_standby_functions.out    Wed
Nov  7 06:36:47 2018
***************
*** 37,40 ****

  -- suicide is painless
  select pg_cancel_backend(pg_backend_pid());
! ERROR:  canceling statement due to user request
--- 37,44 ----

  -- suicide is painless
  select pg_cancel_backend(pg_backend_pid());
!  pg_cancel_backend
! -------------------
!  t
! (1 row)
!

======================================================================

In fact, I see the same when I just do in psql (using EnterpriseDB's
PostgreSQL 11 for Windows):

postgres=# select pg_cancel_backend(pg_backend_pid());
ERROR:  canceling statement due to user request
postgres=# select pg_cancel_backend(pg_backend_pid());
ERROR:  canceling statement due to user request
postgres=# select pg_cancel_backend(pg_backend_pid());
ERROR:  canceling statement due to user request
postgres=# select pg_cancel_backend(pg_backend_pid());
 pg_cancel_backend
-------------------
 t
(1 row)


postgres=# select pg_cancel_backend(pg_backend_pid());
 pg_cancel_backend
-------------------
 t
(1 row)


postgres=# select pg_cancel_backend(pg_backend_pid());
ERROR:  canceling statement due to user request
postgres=#

I couldn't reproduce it on Linux, though.
So if it's an expected behaviour, shouldn't the hs_standby_functions check
be fixed?
(I don't understand what is the point of this pg_cancel_backend call.)

This is clearly a timing thing.

The most common case is that the signal is sent and delivered while the pg_cancel_backend() command is still executed. This is probably "always" happening on Unix due to how signals work.

On Windows, what happens in the case where it returns is that the signal is delivered to the "signal thread" (the separate thread handling our signal emulation), but that thread is not scheduled to run until the pg_cancel_backend() function has actually returned. Thus it returns the value and is then canceled.

That said, I agree with the question -- what is the point of this? pg_cancel_backend(pg_backend_pid()) can surely only ever cancel the pg_cancel_backend call itself, so it seems pointless.

The *comment* talks about suicide, which indicates that maybe the original intention was to use pg_terminate_backend()?  But it has also been i nthere since 2009, so why is this problem only showing up now? 

--

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