Thread: Allowing DML RULEs that produce Read Only actions during RO xacts

I would like to allow RULEs ON INSERT, ON UPDATE and ON DELETE during
read only transactions iff they generate only SELECT statements that act
INSTEAD OF the actual event.

CREATE RULE foorah
  AS ON INSERT TO foo
  DO INSTEAD SELECT remote_insert(NEW.col1, NEW.col2, ...);

The above rule is currently disallowed during READ ONLY transactions,
even though the write action is re-written into a read-only action.

I have a small patch that allows this, attached here with test cases.

This would be a small, but useful additional feature for Hot Standby,
since it would allow INSERT, UPDATE, DELETE statements to be re-routed,
for various applications.

--
 Simon Riggs           www.2ndQuadrant.com

Simon Riggs <simon@2ndQuadrant.com> writes:
> I would like to allow RULEs ON INSERT, ON UPDATE and ON DELETE during
> read only transactions iff they generate only SELECT statements that act
> INSTEAD OF the actual event.

I don't actually believe there is any use case for such a thing.

> This would be a small, but useful additional feature for Hot Standby,
> since it would allow INSERT, UPDATE, DELETE statements to be re-routed,
> for various applications.

How would you "reroute" them without a non-read-only operation happening
somewhere along the line?
> +    /*
> +     * If we're running a SELECT, allow it. This ensures that a
> +     * write rule such as ON INSERT DO SELECT can be executed in
> +     * a read-only session.
> +     */
> +    if (plannedstmt->commandType == CMD_SELECT)
> +        return;

This will fail, very nastily, in writable-CTE cases.
        regards, tom lane

On Sun, 2009-12-06 at 10:26 -0500, Tom Lane wrote:
> Simon Riggs <simon@2ndQuadrant.com> writes:
> > I would like to allow RULEs ON INSERT, ON UPDATE and ON DELETE during
> > read only transactions iff they generate only SELECT statements that act
> > INSTEAD OF the actual event.
> 
> I don't actually believe there is any use case for such a thing.
> 
> > This would be a small, but useful additional feature for Hot Standby,
> > since it would allow INSERT, UPDATE, DELETE statements to be re-routed,
> > for various applications.
> 
> How would you "reroute" them without a non-read-only operation happening
> somewhere along the line?

I showed how in my example. The non-read-only operation happens on a
remote server.

If there are additional technical reasons why not, that's fine.

-- Simon Riggs           www.2ndQuadrant.com

Simon Riggs <simon@2ndQuadrant.com> writes:
> On Sun, 2009-12-06 at 10:26 -0500, Tom Lane wrote:
>> How would you "reroute" them without a non-read-only operation happening
>> somewhere along the line?

> I showed how in my example. The non-read-only operation happens on a
> remote server.

That seems awfully dubious from a transactional-safety point of view.
        regards, tom lane

On Sun, 2009-12-06 at 10:26 -0500, Tom Lane wrote:
> 
> > +     /*
> > +      * If we're running a SELECT, allow it. This ensures that a
> > +      * write rule such as ON INSERT DO SELECT can be executed in
> > +      * a read-only session.
> > +      */
> > +     if (plannedstmt->commandType == CMD_SELECT)
> > +             return;
> 
> This will fail, very nastily, in writable-CTE cases.

If the feature is not able to be added easily, then I'm not interested
either. It's a nice-to-have and I have no time for anything more, so if
it gives problems in other areas, I would not pursue further.

One question: would a writable-CTE be running in a read-only xact?

-- Simon Riggs           www.2ndQuadrant.com