Re: Wrong results with grouping sets - Mailing list pgsql-hackers

From Paul George
Subject Re: Wrong results with grouping sets
Date
Msg-id CALA8mJqNeiexX3t_G555_m=nOMS9261zQ_W8r+6LRRbt3q8CLg@mail.gmail.com
Whole thread Raw
In response to Re: Wrong results with grouping sets  (Ashutosh Bapat <ashutosh.bapat.oss@gmail.com>)
Responses Re: Wrong results with grouping sets
List pgsql-hackers
Thanks for the work!

Since a subquery is a volatile expression, each of its instances
should be evaluated separately.

This seems like a valid point, though "query 2" below which groups over a RANDOM() column and outputs an additional RANDOM() column a potential, albeit contrived, counter-example? [NOTE: this was done on Postgres 16.3] I've included a few different combinations of GROUP BYs.

-- setup
create table t as (select 0 x);
analyze t;

-- query 1: base --> multiple evaluations of RANDOM(), col0 != col1
postgres=# select x, random() col0, random() col1 from t group by x;
 x |        col0         |        col1        
---+---------------------+--------------------
 0 | 0.07205921113992653 | 0.9847359546402477
(1 row)

-- query 2: group by one volatile column --> single evaluation of RANDOM(), col0 == col1
postgres=# select x, random() col0, random() col1 from t group by x, col0;
 x |        col0        |        col1        
---+--------------------+--------------------
 0 | 0.7765600922298943 | 0.7765600922298943
(1 row)

-- query 3: group by both volatile columns --> multiple evaluations of RANDOM() again, col0 != col1
postgres=# select x, random() col0, random() col1 from t group by x, col0, col1;
 x |        col0         |        col1        
---+---------------------+--------------------
 0 | 0.07334303548896548 | 0.6528967617521189
(1 row)

--

Related to your point about the unexpected asymmetry in single vs multiple evaluations of subquery plans, I'm curious if the pair of subqueries in both examples below should be considered equivalent? The queries output the same results and the subqueries differ only in output name. With this patch, they're considered equivalent in the first query but not in the second. [NOTE: this was done on a branch with the patch applied]

-- query 1: alias outside subquery
test=# explain (verbose, costs off) select x, (select 1) col0, (select 1) col1 from t group by x, col0;
                     QUERY PLAN                      
-----------------------------------------------------
 Group
   Output: t.x, (InitPlan 1).col1, (InitPlan 1).col1
   Group Key: t.x
   InitPlan 1
     ->  Result
           Output: 1
   ->  Sort
         Output: t.x
         Sort Key: t.x
         ->  Seq Scan on public.t
               Output: t.x
(11 rows)

...compared to...

-- query 2: alias inside subquery
test=# explain (verbose, costs off) select x, (select 1 col0), (select 1 col1) from t group by x, col0;
                     QUERY PLAN                      
-----------------------------------------------------
 Group
   Output: t.x, (InitPlan 1).col1, (InitPlan 2).col1
   Group Key: t.x
   InitPlan 1
     ->  Result
           Output: 1
   InitPlan 2
     ->  Result
           Output: 1
   ->  Sort
         Output: t.x
         Sort Key: t.x
         ->  Seq Scan on public.t
               Output: t.x
(14 rows)


-Paul-

pgsql-hackers by date:

Previous
From: Alexander Korotkov
Date:
Subject: Re: Removing unneeded self joins
Next
From: "Zhijie Hou (Fujitsu)"
Date:
Subject: RE: Slow catchup of 2PC (twophase) transactions on replica in LR