Thread: [HACKERS] [PATCH] pageinspect function to decode infomasks

On Wed, Jul 19, 2017 at 8:33 PM, Craig Ringer <craig@2ndquadrant.com> wrote:
> That's silly, so here's a patch to teach pageinspect how to decode infomasks
> to a human readable array of flag names.
>
> Example:
>
> SELECT t_infomask, t_infomask2, flags
> FROM heap_page_items(get_raw_page('test1', 0)),
>      LATERAL heap_infomask_flags(t_infomask, t_infomask2, true) m(flags);
>  t_infomask | t_infomask2 |                                   flags
> ------------+-------------+----------------------------------------------------------------------------
>        2816 |           2 |
> {HEAP_XMIN_COMMITTED,HEAP_XMIN_INVALID,HEAP_XMAX_INVALID,HEAP_XMIN_FROZEN}
> (1 row)

Seems like a good idea to me.

-- 
Peter Geoghegan

On Thu, Jul 20, 2017 at 5:44 AM, Peter Geoghegan <pg@bowt.ie> wrote:
> On Wed, Jul 19, 2017 at 8:33 PM, Craig Ringer <craig@2ndquadrant.com> wrote:
>> That's silly, so here's a patch to teach pageinspect how to decode infomasks
>> to a human readable array of flag names.
>>
>> Example:
>>
>> SELECT t_infomask, t_infomask2, flags
>> FROM heap_page_items(get_raw_page('test1', 0)),
>>      LATERAL heap_infomask_flags(t_infomask, t_infomask2, true) m(flags);
>>  t_infomask | t_infomask2 |                                   flags
>> ------------+-------------+----------------------------------------------------------------------------
>>        2816 |           2 |
>> {HEAP_XMIN_COMMITTED,HEAP_XMIN_INVALID,HEAP_XMAX_INVALID,HEAP_XMIN_FROZEN}
>> (1 row)
>
> Seems like a good idea to me.
>

+1, it'll be really helpful.

On Thu, Jul 20, 2017 at 3:13 PM, Julien Rouhaud <rjuju123@gmail.com> wrote:
> On Thu, Jul 20, 2017 at 5:44 AM, Peter Geoghegan <pg@bowt.ie> wrote:
>> On Wed, Jul 19, 2017 at 8:33 PM, Craig Ringer <craig@2ndquadrant.com> wrote:
>>> That's silly, so here's a patch to teach pageinspect how to decode infomasks
>>> to a human readable array of flag names.
>>>
>>> Example:
>>>
>>> SELECT t_infomask, t_infomask2, flags
>>> FROM heap_page_items(get_raw_page('test1', 0)),
>>>      LATERAL heap_infomask_flags(t_infomask, t_infomask2, true) m(flags);
>>>  t_infomask | t_infomask2 |                                   flags
>>> ------------+-------------+----------------------------------------------------------------------------
>>>        2816 |           2 |
>>> {HEAP_XMIN_COMMITTED,HEAP_XMIN_INVALID,HEAP_XMAX_INVALID,HEAP_XMIN_FROZEN}
>>> (1 row)
>>
>> Seems like a good idea to me.
>>
>
> +1, it'll be really helpful.
>

+1.
When I investigated data corruption incident I also wrote a plpgsql
function for the same purpose, and it was very useful. I think we can
have the similar thing for lp_flags as well.

Regards,

--
Masahiko Sawada
NIPPON TELEGRAPH AND TELEPHONE CORPORATION
NTT Open Source Software Center

I had a quick look into this patch and also tested it and following
are my observations.

1) I am seeing a server crash when passing any non meaningful value
for t_infomask2 to heap_infomask_flags().

postgres=# SELECT heap_infomask_flags(2816, 3);
server closed the connection unexpectedly   This probably means the server terminated abnormally   before or while
processingthe request.
 
The connection to the server was lost. Attempting reset: Failed.
!> \q

Following is the backtrace,

(gdb) bt
#0  0x0000000000d9c55b in pg_detoast_datum (datum=0x0) at fmgr.c:1833
#1  0x0000000000b87374 in construct_md_array (elems=0x2ad74c0,
nulls=0x0, ndims=1, dims=0x7ffc0b0bbcd0, lbs=0x7ffc0b0bbcc0,
elmtype=25, elmlen=-1,   elmbyval=0 '\000', elmalign=105 'i') at arrayfuncs.c:3382
#2  0x0000000000b8709f in construct_array (elems=0x2ad74c0, nelems=10,
elmtype=25, elmlen=-1, elmbyval=0 '\000', elmalign=105 'i') at
arrayfuncs.c:3316
#3  0x00007fb8001603a5 in heap_infomask_flags (fcinfo=0x2ad3b88) at
heapfuncs.c:597
#4  0x000000000082f4cd in ExecInterpExpr (state=0x2ad3aa0,
econtext=0x2ad3750, isnull=0x7ffc0b0bbf67 "") at execExprInterp.c:672
#5  0x000000000088b832 in ExecEvalExprSwitchContext (state=0x2ad3aa0,
econtext=0x2ad3750, isNull=0x7ffc0b0bbf67 "")   at ../../../src/include/executor/executor.h:290
#6  0x000000000088b8e3 in ExecProject (projInfo=0x2ad3a98) at
../../../src/include/executor/executor.h:324
#7  0x000000000088bb89 in ExecResult (node=0x2ad36b8) at nodeResult.c:132
#8  0x00000000008494fe in ExecProcNode (node=0x2ad36b8) at execProcnode.c:416
#9  0x000000000084125d in ExecutePlan (estate=0x2ad34a0,
planstate=0x2ad36b8, use_parallel_mode=0 '\000', operation=CMD_SELECT,
sendTuples=1 '\001',   numberTuples=0, direction=ForwardScanDirection, dest=0x2ac0ae0,
execute_once=1 '\001') at execMain.c:1693
#10 0x000000000083d54b in standard_ExecutorRun (queryDesc=0x2a42880,
direction=ForwardScanDirection, count=0, execute_once=1 '\001') at
execMain.c:362
#11 0x000000000083d253 in ExecutorRun (queryDesc=0x2a42880,
direction=ForwardScanDirection, count=0, execute_once=1 '\001') at
execMain.c:305
#12 0x0000000000b3dd8f in PortalRunSelect (portal=0x2ad1490, forward=1
'\001', count=0, dest=0x2ac0ae0) at pquery.c:932
#13 0x0000000000b3d7e7 in PortalRun (portal=0x2ad1490,
count=9223372036854775807, isTopLevel=1 '\001', run_once=1 '\001',
dest=0x2ac0ae0, altdest=0x2ac0ae0,   completionTag=0x7ffc0b0bc2c0 "") at pquery.c:773
#14 0x0000000000b31fe4 in exec_simple_query (query_string=0x2a9d9a0
"SELECT heap_infomask_flags(11008, 1111, true);") at postgres.c:1099
#15 0x0000000000b3a727 in PostgresMain (argc=1, argv=0x2a49eb0,
dbname=0x2a1d480 "postgres", username=0x2a49d18 "ashu") at
postgres.c:4090
#16 0x0000000000a2cb3f in BackendRun (port=0x2a3e700) at postmaster.c:4357
#17 0x0000000000a2bc63 in BackendStartup (port=0x2a3e700) at postmaster.c:4029
#18 0x0000000000a248ab in ServerLoop () at postmaster.c:1753
#19 0x0000000000a236a9 in PostmasterMain (argc=3, argv=0x2a1b2b0) at
postmaster.c:1361
#20 0x00000000008d8054 in main (argc=3, argv=0x2a1b2b0) at main.c:228

2) I can see the documentation for heap_infomask(). But, I do not see
it being defined or used anywhere in the patch.

+     <para>
+      The <function>heap_infomask</function> function can be used to unpack the
+      recognised bits of the infomasks of heap tuples.
+     </para>

3) If show_combined flag is set to it's default value and a tuple is
frozen then may i know the reason for not showing it as frozen tuple
when t_infomask2
is passed as zero.

postgres=# SELECT heap_infomask_flags(2816, 0);                   heap_infomask_flags
-----------------------------------------------------------{HEAP_XMIN_COMMITTED,HEAP_XMIN_INVALID,HEAP_XMAX_INVALID}
(1 row)

postgres=# SELECT heap_infomask_flags(2816, 1);                           heap_infomask_flags

----------------------------------------------------------------------------{HEAP_XMIN_COMMITTED,HEAP_XMIN_INVALID,HEAP_XMAX_INVALID,HEAP_XMIN_FROZEN}
(1 row)


4) I think, it would be better to use the same argument name for the
newly added function i.e heap_infomask_flags() in both documentation
and sql file. I am basically refering to 'include_combined' argument.
IF you see the function definition, the argument name used is
'include_combined' whereas in documentation you have mentioned
'show_combined'.

--
With Regards,
Ashutosh Sharma
EnterpriseDB:http://www.enterprisedb.com

On Thu, Jul 20, 2017 at 11:56 AM, Masahiko Sawada <sawada.mshk@gmail.com> wrote:
> On Thu, Jul 20, 2017 at 3:13 PM, Julien Rouhaud <rjuju123@gmail.com> wrote:
>> On Thu, Jul 20, 2017 at 5:44 AM, Peter Geoghegan <pg@bowt.ie> wrote:
>>> On Wed, Jul 19, 2017 at 8:33 PM, Craig Ringer <craig@2ndquadrant.com> wrote:
>>>> That's silly, so here's a patch to teach pageinspect how to decode infomasks
>>>> to a human readable array of flag names.
>>>>
>>>> Example:
>>>>
>>>> SELECT t_infomask, t_infomask2, flags
>>>> FROM heap_page_items(get_raw_page('test1', 0)),
>>>>      LATERAL heap_infomask_flags(t_infomask, t_infomask2, true) m(flags);
>>>>  t_infomask | t_infomask2 |                                   flags
>>>> ------------+-------------+----------------------------------------------------------------------------
>>>>        2816 |           2 |
>>>> {HEAP_XMIN_COMMITTED,HEAP_XMIN_INVALID,HEAP_XMAX_INVALID,HEAP_XMIN_FROZEN}
>>>> (1 row)
>>>
>>> Seems like a good idea to me.
>>>
>>
>> +1, it'll be really helpful.
>>
>
> +1.
> When I investigated data corruption incident I also wrote a plpgsql
> function for the same purpose, and it was very useful. I think we can
> have the similar thing for lp_flags as well.
>
> Regards,
>
> --
> Masahiko Sawada
> NIPPON TELEGRAPH AND TELEPHONE CORPORATION
> NTT Open Source Software Center
>
>
> --
> Sent via pgsql-hackers mailing list (pgsql-hackers@postgresql.org)
> To make changes to your subscription:
> http://www.postgresql.org/mailpref/pgsql-hackers

On Mon, Aug 14, 2017 at 9:59 PM, Craig Ringer <craig@2ndquadrant.com> wrote:
> The bits are set, those macros just test to exclude the special meaning of
> both bits being set at once to mean "frozen".
>
> I was reluctant to filter out  HEAP_XMIN_COMMITTED and HEAP_XMIN_INVALID
> when we detect that it's frozen, because that could well be misleading when
> debugging.

I don't think so -- the "committed" and "invalid" meanings are
effectively canceled when the "frozen" mask is present.

I mean, "committed" and "invalid" contradict each other...

-- 
Robert Haas
EnterpriseDB: http://www.enterprisedb.com
The Enterprise PostgreSQL Company

On 08/15/2017 03:24 PM, Robert Haas wrote:
> On Mon, Aug 14, 2017 at 9:59 PM, Craig Ringer <craig@2ndquadrant.com> wrote:
>> The bits are set, those macros just test to exclude the special meaning of
>> both bits being set at once to mean "frozen".
>>
>> I was reluctant to filter out  HEAP_XMIN_COMMITTED and HEAP_XMIN_INVALID
>> when we detect that it's frozen, because that could well be misleading when
>> debugging.
> 
> I don't think so -- the "committed" and "invalid" meanings are
> effectively canceled when the "frozen" mask is present.
> 
> I mean, "committed" and "invalid" contradict each other...
> 

FWIW I agree with Craig - the functions should output the masks raw, 
without any filtering. The reason is that when you're investigating data 
corruption or unexpected behavior, all this is very useful when 
reasoning about what might (not) have happened.

Or at least make the filtering optional.

regards

-- 
Tomas Vondra                  http://www.2ndQuadrant.com
PostgreSQL Development, 24x7 Support, Remote DBA, Training & Services

On Tue, Aug 15, 2017 at 10:59 PM, Tomas Vondra
<tomas.vondra@2ndquadrant.com> wrote:
>
>
> On 08/15/2017 03:24 PM, Robert Haas wrote:
>>
>> On Mon, Aug 14, 2017 at 9:59 PM, Craig Ringer <craig@2ndquadrant.com>
>> wrote:
>>>
>>> The bits are set, those macros just test to exclude the special meaning
>>> of
>>> both bits being set at once to mean "frozen".
>>>
>>> I was reluctant to filter out  HEAP_XMIN_COMMITTED and HEAP_XMIN_INVALID
>>> when we detect that it's frozen, because that could well be misleading
>>> when
>>> debugging.
>>
>>
>> I don't think so -- the "committed" and "invalid" meanings are
>> effectively canceled when the "frozen" mask is present.
>>
>> I mean, "committed" and "invalid" contradict each other...
>>
>
> FWIW I agree with Craig - the functions should output the masks raw, without
> any filtering. The reason is that when you're investigating data corruption
> or unexpected behavior, all this is very useful when reasoning about what
> might (not) have happened.
>
> Or at least make the filtering optional.
>

I'd vote for having both and making one optional (perhaps filtering?).
Both are useful to me for the debugging and study purpose.

Regards,

--
Masahiko Sawada
NIPPON TELEGRAPH AND TELEPHONE CORPORATION
NTT Open Source Software Center

On Tue, Aug 15, 2017 at 9:59 AM, Tomas Vondra
<tomas.vondra@2ndquadrant.com> wrote:
>> I don't think so -- the "committed" and "invalid" meanings are
>> effectively canceled when the "frozen" mask is present.
>>
>> I mean, "committed" and "invalid" contradict each other...
>
> FWIW I agree with Craig - the functions should output the masks raw, without
> any filtering. The reason is that when you're investigating data corruption
> or unexpected behavior, all this is very useful when reasoning about what
> might (not) have happened.
>
> Or at least make the filtering optional.

I don't think "filtering" is the right way to think about it.  It's
just labeling each combination of bits with the meaning appropriate to
that combination of bits.

I mean, if you were displaying the contents of a CLOG entry, would you
want the value 3 to be displayed as COMMITTED ABORTED SUBCOMMITTED
because TRANSACTION_STATUS_COMMITTED|TRANSACTION_STATUS_ABORTED ==
TRANSACTION_STATUS_SUB_COMMITTED?

I realize that you may be used to thinking of the HEAP_XMIN_COMMITTED
and HEAP_XMAX_COMMITTED bits as two separate bits, but that's not
really true any more.  They're a 2-bit field that can have one of four
values: committed, aborted, frozen, or none of the above.

-- 
Robert Haas
EnterpriseDB: http://www.enterprisedb.com
The Enterprise PostgreSQL Company

On 08/15/2017 07:54 PM, Robert Haas wrote:
> On Tue, Aug 15, 2017 at 9:59 AM, Tomas Vondra
> <tomas.vondra@2ndquadrant.com> wrote:
>>> I don't think so -- the "committed" and "invalid" meanings are
>>> effectively canceled when the "frozen" mask is present.
>>>
>>> I mean, "committed" and "invalid" contradict each other...
>>
>> FWIW I agree with Craig - the functions should output the masks raw, without
>> any filtering. The reason is that when you're investigating data corruption
>> or unexpected behavior, all this is very useful when reasoning about what
>> might (not) have happened.
>>
>> Or at least make the filtering optional.
> 
> I don't think "filtering" is the right way to think about it.  It's
> just labeling each combination of bits with the meaning appropriate to
> that combination of bits.
> 
> I mean, if you were displaying the contents of a CLOG entry, would you
> want the value 3 to be displayed as COMMITTED ABORTED SUBCOMMITTED
> because TRANSACTION_STATUS_COMMITTED|TRANSACTION_STATUS_ABORTED ==
> TRANSACTION_STATUS_SUB_COMMITTED?
> 
> I realize that you may be used to thinking of the HEAP_XMIN_COMMITTED
> and HEAP_XMAX_COMMITTED bits as two separate bits, but that's not
> really true any more.  They're a 2-bit field that can have one of four
> values: committed, aborted, frozen, or none of the above.
> 

All I'm saying is that having the complete information (knowing which 
bits are actually set in the bitmask) is valuable when reasoning about 
how you might have gotten to the current state. Which I think is what 
Craig is after.

What I think we should not do is interpret the bitmasks (omitting some 
of the information) assuming all the bits were set correctly.

regards

-- 
Tomas Vondra                  http://www.2ndQuadrant.com
PostgreSQL Development, 24x7 Support, Remote DBA, Training & Services

On Tue, Aug 15, 2017 at 3:42 PM, Tomas Vondra
<tomas.vondra@2ndquadrant.com> wrote:
> What I think we should not do is interpret the bitmasks (omitting some of
> the information) assuming all the bits were set correctly.

I'm still confused.  HEAP_XMIN_COMMITTED|HEAP_XMIN_ABORTED ==
HEAP_XMIN_FROZEN.  Nobody is proposing to omit anything; to the
contrary, what's being proposed is not to display the same thing twice
(and in a misleading fashion, to boot).

-- 
Robert Haas
EnterpriseDB: http://www.enterprisedb.com
The Enterprise PostgreSQL Company

On 08/15/2017 09:55 PM, Robert Haas wrote:
> On Tue, Aug 15, 2017 at 3:42 PM, Tomas Vondra
> <tomas.vondra@2ndquadrant.com> wrote:
>> What I think we should not do is interpret the bitmasks (omitting some of
>> the information) assuming all the bits were set correctly.
> 
> I'm still confused. HEAP_XMIN_COMMITTED|HEAP_XMIN_ABORTED == 
> HEAP_XMIN_FROZEN. Nobody is proposing to omit anything; to the 
> contrary, what's being proposed is not to display the same thing
> twice (and in a misleading fashion, to boot).
> 

I understand your point. Assume you're looking at this bit of code:
    if (HeapTupleHeaderXminCommitted(enumval_tup->t_data))        return;

which is essentially
    if (enumval_tup->t_data & HEAP_XMIN_COMMITTED)        return;

If the function only gives you HEAP_XMIN_FROZEN, how likely is it you 
miss this actually evaluates as true?

You might say that people investigating issues in this area of code 
should be aware of how HEAP_XMIN_FROZEN is defined, and perhaps you're 
right ...

regards

-- 
Tomas Vondra                  http://www.2ndQuadrant.com
PostgreSQL Development, 24x7 Support, Remote DBA, Training & Services

I checked for code related to infomask.
(add flag state -- HEAP_XMIN_COMMITTED, HEAP_XMIN_INVALID, HEAP_XMIN_FROZEN)

first i'm still beginner level about postgresql, so my opinion may be wrong.

if the "HEAP_XMIN_COMMITTED" flag is added, check the function of "HeapTupleHeaderXminInvalid"
if the "HEAP_XMIN_INVALID" flag is added, check the function of "HeapTupleHeaderXminCommitted"
if the "HEAP_XMIN_FROZEN" flag is added, use the "HeapTupleHeaderSetXminFrozen" function or
use the code as
--------------------------------------
xid = HeapTupleHeaderGetXmin(tuple);
if (TransactionIdIsNormal(xid))
{   if (TransactionIdPrecedes(xid, cutoff_xid))   {       frz->t_infomask |= HEAP_XMIN_FROZEN;       changed = true;
}  else       totally_frozen = false; 
}
--------------------------------------
to add the flag.

so as a result, HEAP_XMIN_INVALID and HEAP_XMIN_COMMITTED is cannot coexist.
unfortunately, i don't know if HEAP_XMIN_COMMITTED and HEAP_XMIN_FROZEN flags can coexist.

so i think it's also a good idea to output the raw masks, without any filtering.
however, i think the information that is presented to the user should inform us which flags was entered.

Regards.
Moon

> -----Original Message-----
> From: pgsql-hackers-owner@postgresql.org
> [mailto:pgsql-hackers-owner@postgresql.org] On Behalf Of Tomas Vondra
> Sent: Wednesday, August 16, 2017 5:36 AM
> To: Robert Haas
> Cc: pgsql-hackers@postgresql.org
> Subject: Re: [HACKERS] [PATCH] pageinspect function to decode infomasks
>
>
>
> On 08/15/2017 09:55 PM, Robert Haas wrote:
> > On Tue, Aug 15, 2017 at 3:42 PM, Tomas Vondra
> > <tomas.vondra@2ndquadrant.com> wrote:
> >> What I think we should not do is interpret the bitmasks (omitting
> >> some of the information) assuming all the bits were set correctly.
> >
> > I'm still confused. HEAP_XMIN_COMMITTED|HEAP_XMIN_ABORTED ==
> > HEAP_XMIN_FROZEN. Nobody is proposing to omit anything; to the
> > contrary, what's being proposed is not to display the same thing twice
> > (and in a misleading fashion, to boot).
> >
>
> I understand your point. Assume you're looking at this bit of code:
>
>      if (HeapTupleHeaderXminCommitted(enumval_tup->t_data))
>          return;
>
> which is essentially
>
>      if (enumval_tup->t_data & HEAP_XMIN_COMMITTED)
>          return;
>
> If the function only gives you HEAP_XMIN_FROZEN, how likely is it you miss
> this actually evaluates as true?
>
> You might say that people investigating issues in this area of code should
> be aware of how HEAP_XMIN_FROZEN is defined, and perhaps you're right ...
>
> regards
>
> --
> Tomas Vondra                  http://www.2ndQuadrant.com
> PostgreSQL Development, 24x7 Support, Remote DBA, Training & Services
>
>
> --
> Sent via pgsql-hackers mailing list (pgsql-hackers@postgresql.org) To make
> changes to your subscription:
> http://www.postgresql.org/mailpref/pgsql-hackers

On Tue, Aug 15, 2017 at 4:36 PM, Tomas Vondra
<tomas.vondra@2ndquadrant.com> wrote:
> You might say that people investigating issues in this area of code should
> be aware of how HEAP_XMIN_FROZEN is defined, and perhaps you're right ...

Yes, I think that's what I would say.  I mean, if you happen to NOT
know that committed|invalid == frozen, but you DO know what committed
means and what invalid means, then you're going to be *really*
confused when you see committed and invalid set on the same tuple.
Showing you frozen has got to be clearer.

Now, I agree with you that a test like (enumval_tup->t_data &
HEAP_XMIN_COMMITTED) could be confusing to someone who doesn't realize
that HEAP_XMIN_FROZEN & HEAP_XMIN_COMMITTED == HEAP_XMIN_COMMITTED,
but I think that's just one of those things that unfortunately is
going to require adequate knowledge for people investigating issues.
If there's an action item there, it might be to try to come up with a
way to make the source code clearer.

-- 
Robert Haas
EnterpriseDB: http://www.enterprisedb.com
The Enterprise PostgreSQL Company

Hi Craig,

On Thu, Aug 17, 2017 at 5:50 AM, Craig Ringer <craig@2ndquadrant.com> wrote:
> On 16 August 2017 at 23:14, Robert Haas <robertmhaas@gmail.com> wrote:
>>
>> On Tue, Aug 15, 2017 at 4:36 PM, Tomas Vondra
>> <tomas.vondra@2ndquadrant.com> wrote:
>> > You might say that people investigating issues in this area of code
>> > should
>> > be aware of how HEAP_XMIN_FROZEN is defined, and perhaps you're right
>> > ...
>>
>> Yes, I think that's what I would say.  I mean, if you happen to NOT
>> know that committed|invalid == frozen, but you DO know what committed
>> means and what invalid means, then you're going to be *really*
>> confused when you see committed and invalid set on the same tuple.
>> Showing you frozen has got to be clearer.
>>
>> Now, I agree with you that a test like (enumval_tup->t_data &
>> HEAP_XMIN_COMMITTED) could be confusing to someone who doesn't realize
>> that HEAP_XMIN_FROZEN & HEAP_XMIN_COMMITTED == HEAP_XMIN_COMMITTED,
>> but I think that's just one of those things that unfortunately is
>> going to require adequate knowledge for people investigating issues.
>> If there's an action item there, it might be to try to come up with a
>> way to make the source code clearer.
>>
>
> For other multi-purpose flags we have macros, and I think it'd make sense to
> use them here too.
>
> Eschew direct use of  HEAP_XMIN_COMMITTED, HEAP_XMIN_INVALID and
> HEAP_XMIN_FROZEN in tests. Instead, consistently use HeapXminIsFrozen(),
> HeapXminIsCommitted(), and HeapXminIsInvalid() or something like that.
>
> --

Are you planning to work on the review comments from Robert, Moon
Insung and supply the new patch. I just had a quick glance into this
mail thread (after a long time) and could understand Robert's concern
till some extent. I think, he is trying to say that if a tuple is
frozen (committed|invalid) then it shouldn't be shown as COMMITTED and
INVALID together in fact it should just be displayed as FROZEN tuple.

-- 
With Regards,
Ashutosh Sharma
EnterpriseDB:http://www.enterprisedb.com


-- 
Sent via pgsql-hackers mailing list (pgsql-hackers@postgresql.org)
To make changes to your subscription:
http://www.postgresql.org/mailpref/pgsql-hackers

On Tue, Aug 15, 2017 at 10:54 AM, Robert Haas <robertmhaas@gmail.com> wrote:
>> Or at least make the filtering optional.
>
> I don't think "filtering" is the right way to think about it.  It's
> just labeling each combination of bits with the meaning appropriate to
> that combination of bits.

I do. -1 to not just showing what's on the page -- if the
HEAP_XMIN_COMMITTED and HEAP_XMIN_ABORTED bits are set, then I think
we should show them. Yeah, I accept that there is a real danger of
confusing people with that. Unfortunately, I think that displaying
HEAP_XMIN_FROZEN will cause even more confusion. I don't think that
HEAP_XMIN_FROZEN is an abstraction at all. It's a notational
convenience.

I don't think it's our place to "interpret" the bits. Are we *also*
going to show HEAP_XMIN_FROZEN when xmin is physically set to
FrozenTransactionId? Where does it end?

I think that we should prominently document that HEAP_XMIN_COMMITTED
|HEAP_XMIN_ABORTED == HEAP_XMIN_FROZEN, rather than trying to hide
complexity that we have no business hiding in a tool like pageinspect.

-- 
Peter Geoghegan


-- 
Sent via pgsql-hackers mailing list (pgsql-hackers@postgresql.org)
To make changes to your subscription:
http://www.postgresql.org/mailpref/pgsql-hackers

On Thu, Oct 12, 2017 at 7:35 PM, Peter Geoghegan <pg@bowt.ie> wrote:
> On Tue, Aug 15, 2017 at 10:54 AM, Robert Haas <robertmhaas@gmail.com> wrote:
>>> Or at least make the filtering optional.
>>
>> I don't think "filtering" is the right way to think about it.  It's
>> just labeling each combination of bits with the meaning appropriate to
>> that combination of bits.
>
> I do. -1 to not just showing what's on the page -- if the
> HEAP_XMIN_COMMITTED and HEAP_XMIN_ABORTED bits are set, then I think
> we should show them. Yeah, I accept that there is a real danger of
> confusing people with that. Unfortunately, I think that displaying
> HEAP_XMIN_FROZEN will cause even more confusion. I don't think that
> HEAP_XMIN_FROZEN is an abstraction at all. It's a notational
> convenience.

Well, *I* think that HEAP_XMIN_FROZEN is an abstraction.  That's why
we have #define -- to help us create abstractions.

> I don't think it's our place to "interpret" the bits. Are we *also*
> going to show HEAP_XMIN_FROZEN when xmin is physically set to
> FrozenTransactionId?

No, of course not.  We're talking about how to display the 256 and 512
bits of t_infomask.  Those have four states: nothing, committed,
invalid, frozen.  You're arguing that frozen isn't a real state, that
it's somehow just a combination of committed and invalid, but I think
that's the wrong way of thinking about it.  When the 256-bit is clear,
the 512-bit tells you whether the xmin is known invalid, but when the
256-bit is set, the 512-bit tells you whether the tuple is also
frozen.

Before HEAP_XMIN_FROZEN existed, it would have been right to display
the state where both bits are set as committed|invalid, because that
would clearly show you that two things had been set that should never
both be set at the same time.  But now that's a valid state with a
well-defined meaning and I think we should display the actual meaning
of that state.

> Where does it end?

I guess it ends wherever we decide to stop.  This isn't some kind of
crazy slippery slope we're talking about here, where one day we're
labeling informask bits and the next day it's global thermonuclear
war.

> I think that we should prominently document that HEAP_XMIN_COMMITTED
> |HEAP_XMIN_ABORTED == HEAP_XMIN_FROZEN, rather than trying to hide
> complexity that we have no business hiding in a tool like pageinspect.

I respect that opinion, but I don't think I'm trying to hide anything.
I think I'm proposing that we display the information in what I
believed to be the clearest and most accurate way.

-- 
Robert Haas
EnterpriseDB: http://www.enterprisedb.com
The Enterprise PostgreSQL Company


-- 
Sent via pgsql-hackers mailing list (pgsql-hackers@postgresql.org)
To make changes to your subscription:
http://www.postgresql.org/mailpref/pgsql-hackers

On Fri, Oct 13, 2017 at 1:02 PM, Robert Haas <robertmhaas@gmail.com> wrote:
>> I don't think it's our place to "interpret" the bits. Are we *also*
>> going to show HEAP_XMIN_FROZEN when xmin is physically set to
>> FrozenTransactionId?
>
> No, of course not.  We're talking about how to display the 256 and 512
> bits of t_infomask.  Those have four states: nothing, committed,
> invalid, frozen.  You're arguing that frozen isn't a real state, that
> it's somehow just a combination of committed and invalid, but I think
> that's the wrong way of thinking about it.

No, I'm arguing that they're just bits. Show the bits, rather than
interpreting what is displayed. Document that there are other logical
states that are represented as composites of contradictory/mutually
exclusive states.

Anyone who hopes to interpret these values has to be an expert anyway,
or willing to become something of an expert. There is a good chance
that they've taken an interest because something is already wrong.

> Before HEAP_XMIN_FROZEN existed, it would have been right to display
> the state where both bits are set as committed|invalid, because that
> would clearly show you that two things had been set that should never
> both be set at the same time.  But now that's a valid state with a
> well-defined meaning and I think we should display the actual meaning
> of that state.
>
>> Where does it end?
>
> I guess it ends wherever we decide to stop.

You can take what you're saying much further. What about
HEAP_XMAX_SHR_LOCK, and HEAP_MOVED? Code like HEAP_LOCKED_UPGRADED()
pretty strongly undermines the idea that these composite values are
abstractions.

>> I think that we should prominently document that HEAP_XMIN_COMMITTED
>> |HEAP_XMIN_ABORTED == HEAP_XMIN_FROZEN, rather than trying to hide
>> complexity that we have no business hiding in a tool like pageinspect.
>
> I respect that opinion, but I don't think I'm trying to hide anything.
> I think I'm proposing that we display the information in what I
> believed to be the clearest and most accurate way.

pg_filedump doesn't display HEAP_XMIN_FROZEN, either. (Nor does it
ever display any of the other composite t_infomask/t_infomask2
values.)

-- 
Peter Geoghegan


-- 
Sent via pgsql-hackers mailing list (pgsql-hackers@postgresql.org)
To make changes to your subscription:
http://www.postgresql.org/mailpref/pgsql-hackers

On Fri, Oct 13, 2017 at 4:36 PM, Peter Geoghegan <pg@bowt.ie> wrote:
> No, I'm arguing that they're just bits. Show the bits, rather than
> interpreting what is displayed. Document that there are other logical
> states that are represented as composites of contradictory/mutually
> exclusive states.

/me shrugs.

I think it's perfectly sensible to view those 2 bits as making up a
2-bit field with 4 states rather than displaying each bit
individually, but you obviously disagree.  Fair enough.

>> I guess it ends wherever we decide to stop.
>
> You can take what you're saying much further. What about
> HEAP_XMAX_SHR_LOCK, and HEAP_MOVED? Code like HEAP_LOCKED_UPGRADED()
> pretty strongly undermines the idea that these composite values are
> abstractions.

HEAP_MOVED is obviously a different kind of thing.  The combination of
both bits has no meaning distinct from the meaning of the individual
bits; in fact, I think it's a shouldn't-happen state.  Not sure about
HEAP_XMAX_SHR_LOCK.

> pg_filedump doesn't display HEAP_XMIN_FROZEN, either. (Nor does it
> ever display any of the other composite t_infomask/t_infomask2
> values.)

I can think of two possible explanations for that.  Number one, the
tool was written before HEAP_XMIN_FROZEN was invented and hasn't been
updated for those changes.  Number two, the author of the tool agrees
with your position rather than mine.

-- 
Robert Haas
EnterpriseDB: http://www.enterprisedb.com
The Enterprise PostgreSQL Company


-- 
Sent via pgsql-hackers mailing list (pgsql-hackers@postgresql.org)
To make changes to your subscription:
http://www.postgresql.org/mailpref/pgsql-hackers

On Sat, Oct 14, 2017 at 10:58 AM, Robert Haas <robertmhaas@gmail.com> wrote:
> I think it's perfectly sensible to view those 2 bits as making up a
> 2-bit field with 4 states rather than displaying each bit
> individually, but you obviously disagree.  Fair enough.

I guess it is that simple.

> I can think of two possible explanations for that.  Number one, the
> tool was written before HEAP_XMIN_FROZEN was invented and hasn't been
> updated for those changes.

Have we invented our last t_infomask/t_infomask2 (logical) status already?

> Number two, the author of the tool agrees
> with your position rather than mine.

I am working on an experimental version of pg_filedump, customized to
output XML that can be interpreted by an open source hex editor. The
XML makes the hex editor produce color coded, commented
tags/annotations for any given heap or B-Tree relation. This includes
tooltips with literal values for all status bits (including
t_infomask/t_infomask2 bits, IndexTuple bits, B-Tree meta page status
bits, PD_* page-level bits, ItemId bits, and others). I tweeted about
this several months ago, when it was just a tool I wrote for myself,
and received a surprisingly positive response. It seems like I'm on to
something, and should release the tool to the community.

I mention this project because it very much informs my perspective
here. Having spent quite a while deliberately corrupting test data in
novel ways, just to see what happens, the "work backwards from the
storage format" perspective feels very natural to me. I do think that
I understand where you're coming from too, though.

-- 
Peter Geoghegan


-- 
Sent via pgsql-hackers mailing list (pgsql-hackers@postgresql.org)
To make changes to your subscription:
http://www.postgresql.org/mailpref/pgsql-hackers

On 10/14/2017 11:47 PM, Peter Geoghegan wrote:
> On Sat, Oct 14, 2017 at 10:58 AM, Robert Haas <robertmhaas@gmail.com> wrote:
>> I think it's perfectly sensible to view those 2 bits as making up a
>> 2-bit field with 4 states rather than displaying each bit
>> individually, but you obviously disagree.  Fair enough.>
> I guess it is that simple.

FWIW, my opinion falls in line with Robert's.

Also, whichever way it goes, this is a patch I've been wanting for a
long time.
-- 
Vik Fearing                                          +33 6 46 75 15 36
http://2ndQuadrant.fr     PostgreSQL : Expertise, Formation et Support


-- 
Sent via pgsql-hackers mailing list (pgsql-hackers@postgresql.org)
To make changes to your subscription:
http://www.postgresql.org/mailpref/pgsql-hackers

On Sat, Oct 14, 2017 at 2:47 PM, Peter Geoghegan <pg@bowt.ie> wrote:
> I am working on an experimental version of pg_filedump, customized to
> output XML that can be interpreted by an open source hex editor. The
> XML makes the hex editor produce color coded, commented
> tags/annotations for any given heap or B-Tree relation. This includes
> tooltips with literal values for all status bits (including
> t_infomask/t_infomask2 bits, IndexTuple bits, B-Tree meta page status
> bits, PD_* page-level bits, ItemId bits, and others).

This is now available from: https://github.com/petergeoghegan/pg_hexedit

-- 
Peter Geoghegan


-- 
Sent via pgsql-hackers mailing list (pgsql-hackers@postgresql.org)
To make changes to your subscription:
http://www.postgresql.org/mailpref/pgsql-hackers

On Thu, Sep 14, 2017 at 11:00 PM, Craig Ringer <craig@2ndquadrant.com> wrote:
> On 14 September 2017 at 19:57, Ashutosh Sharma <ashu.coek88@gmail.com>
> wrote:
>
>>
>>
>> Are you planning to work on the review comments from Robert, Moon
>> Insung and supply the new patch. I just had a quick glance into this
>> mail thread (after a long time) and could understand Robert's concern
>> till some extent. I think, he is trying to say that if a tuple is
>> frozen (committed|invalid) then it shouldn't be shown as COMMITTED and
>> INVALID together in fact it should just be displayed as FROZEN tuple.
>
>
> Yes, I'd like to, and should have time for it in this CF.
>
> My plan is to emit raw flags by default, so FROZEN would't be shown at all,
> only COMMITTED|INVALID. If the bool to decode combined flags is set, then
> it'll show things like FROZEN, and hide COMMITTED|INVALID. Similar for other
> combos.
>

FWIW, I agree with this direction. ISTM the showing the raw flags by
default and having an option to show combined flags would be a right
way.
I sometimes wanted to have the same mechanism for lp_flags but maybe
it should be discussed on a separated thread.

Regards,

--
Masahiko Sawada
NIPPON TELEGRAPH AND TELEPHONE CORPORATION
NTT Open Source Software Center


-- 
Sent via pgsql-hackers mailing list (pgsql-hackers@postgresql.org)
To make changes to your subscription:
http://www.postgresql.org/mailpref/pgsql-hackers

Can I interest someone into updating this patch?  We now have (I think)
an agreed design, and I think the development work needed should be
straightforward.  We also already have the popcount stuff, so that's a
few lines to be removed from the patch ...

-- 
Álvaro Herrera                https://www.2ndQuadrant.com/
PostgreSQL Development, 24x7 Support, Remote DBA, Training & Services

On Thu, Aug 22, 2019 at 12:19 AM Alvaro Herrera
<alvherre@2ndquadrant.com> wrote:
>
> Can I interest someone into updating this patch?  We now have (I think)
> an agreed design, and I think the development work needed should be
> straightforward.  We also already have the popcount stuff, so that's a
> few lines to be removed from the patch ...
>

I will update the patch and register to the next Commit Fest tomorrow
if nobody is interested in.

Regards,

--
Masahiko Sawada
NIPPON TELEGRAPH AND TELEPHONE CORPORATION
NTT Open Source Software Center

On Thu, Aug 22, 2019 at 12:36:10AM +0900, Masahiko Sawada wrote:
> I will update the patch and register to the next Commit Fest tomorrow
> if nobody is interested in.

Thanks, Sawada-san.
--
Michael

On Thu, Aug 22, 2019 at 12:36 AM Masahiko Sawada <sawada.mshk@gmail.com> wrote:
>
> On Thu, Aug 22, 2019 at 12:19 AM Alvaro Herrera
> <alvherre@2ndquadrant.com> wrote:
> >
> > Can I interest someone into updating this patch?  We now have (I think)
> > an agreed design, and I think the development work needed should be
> > straightforward.  We also already have the popcount stuff, so that's a
> > few lines to be removed from the patch ...
> >
>
> I will update the patch and register to the next Commit Fest tomorrow
> if nobody is interested in.
>

Attached the updated patch. While updating the doc I realized that
perhaps we should have the new section for heap and put the
descriptions of heap functions into it rather than having them as
general functions. If we need this change it is for PG12. I will
register only the new feature patch to the next Commit Fest.

Please review them.



Regards,

--
Masahiko Sawada
NIPPON TELEGRAPH AND TELEPHONE CORPORATION
NTT Open Source Software Center

On Fri, Aug 23, 2019 at 11:09:44AM +0900, Masahiko Sawada wrote:
> While updating the doc I realized that
> perhaps we should have the new section for heap and put the
> descriptions of heap functions into it rather than having them as
> general functions. If we need this change it is for PG12. I will
> register only the new feature patch to the next Commit Fest.

I agree with the new heap section, and your patch on that looks good.
While on it, I have one suggestion: fsm_page_contents does not have an
example of query.  Could we add one while on it?  An example
consistent with the other function's examples:
=# SELECT fsm_page_contents(get_raw_page('pg_class', 'fsm', 0));
--
Michael

On Fri, Aug 23, 2019 at 12:27 PM Michael Paquier <michael@paquier.xyz> wrote:
>
> On Fri, Aug 23, 2019 at 11:09:44AM +0900, Masahiko Sawada wrote:
> > While updating the doc I realized that
> > perhaps we should have the new section for heap and put the
> > descriptions of heap functions into it rather than having them as
> > general functions. If we need this change it is for PG12. I will
> > register only the new feature patch to the next Commit Fest.
>
> I agree with the new heap section, and your patch on that looks good.
> While on it, I have one suggestion: fsm_page_contents does not have an
> example of query.  Could we add one while on it?  An example
> consistent with the other function's examples:
> =# SELECT fsm_page_contents(get_raw_page('pg_class', 'fsm', 0));

Good idea. I've updated the doc update patch.


Regards,

--
Masahiko Sawada
NIPPON TELEGRAPH AND TELEPHONE CORPORATION
NTT Open Source Software Center

On Fri, Aug 23, 2019 at 03:35:01PM +0900, Masahiko Sawada wrote:
> Good idea. I've updated the doc update patch.

Thanks.  I have removed the output part as I am not sure that it is
that helpful for the reader, and applied it down to v10 where the
sections for function types have been introduced (see b5e3942).  It
felt also more natural to move the description of the output after
giving the query.
--
Michael

On Fri, Aug 23, 2019 at 8:44 PM Michael Paquier <michael@paquier.xyz> wrote:
>
> On Fri, Aug 23, 2019 at 03:35:01PM +0900, Masahiko Sawada wrote:
> > Good idea. I've updated the doc update patch.
>
> Thanks.  I have removed the output part as I am not sure that it is
> that helpful for the reader, and applied it down to v10 where the
> sections for function types have been introduced (see b5e3942).  It
> felt also more natural to move the description of the output after
> giving the query.

Thank you!

Regards,

--
Masahiko Sawada
NIPPON TELEGRAPH AND TELEPHONE CORPORATION
NTT Open Source Software Center

Attached v3 again, for CFbot's benefit.  No changes from last time.

-- 
Álvaro Herrera                https://www.2ndQuadrant.com/
PostgreSQL Development, 24x7 Support, Remote DBA, Training & Services

On 2019-Sep-04, Alvaro Herrera wrote:

> Attached v3 again, for CFbot's benefit.  No changes from last time.

According to CFbot, the Windows build fails with this patch.  Please
fix.

-- 
Álvaro Herrera                https://www.2ndQuadrant.com/
PostgreSQL Development, 24x7 Support, Remote DBA, Training & Services

On Wed, Sep 04, 2019 at 04:50:45PM -0400, Alvaro Herrera wrote:
> According to CFbot, the Windows build fails with this patch.  Please
> fix.

To save a couple of clicks:
"C:\projects\postgresql\pageinspect.vcxproj" (default target) (56) ->
(Link target) ->
  heapfuncs.obj : error LNK2001: unresolved external symbol
  pg_popcount32 [C:\projects\postgresql\pageinspect.vcxproj]
    .\Release\pageinspect\pageinspect.dll : fatal error LNK1120: 1
    unresolved externals [C:\projects\postgresql\pageinspect.vcxproj]

I think that it would be more simple to just use pg_popcount().
That's what other contrib modules do (for example ltree or intarray).
--
Michael

On Thu, Sep 5, 2019 at 10:41 AM Michael Paquier <michael@paquier.xyz> wrote:
>
> On Wed, Sep 04, 2019 at 04:50:45PM -0400, Alvaro Herrera wrote:
> > According to CFbot, the Windows build fails with this patch.  Please
> > fix.
>
> To save a couple of clicks:
> "C:\projects\postgresql\pageinspect.vcxproj" (default target) (56) ->
> (Link target) ->
>   heapfuncs.obj : error LNK2001: unresolved external symbol
>   pg_popcount32 [C:\projects\postgresql\pageinspect.vcxproj]
>     .\Release\pageinspect\pageinspect.dll : fatal error LNK1120: 1
>     unresolved externals [C:\projects\postgresql\pageinspect.vcxproj]
>
> I think that it would be more simple to just use pg_popcount().
> That's what other contrib modules do (for example ltree or intarray).

Thanks. I hope the attached new patch fixes this issue.

Regards,

--
Masahiko Sawada
NIPPON TELEGRAPH AND TELEPHONE CORPORATION
NTT Open Source Software Center

On Thu, Sep 5, 2019 at 2:17 PM Masahiko Sawada <sawada.mshk@gmail.com> wrote:
>
> Thanks. I hope the attached new patch fixes this issue.
>

*
+-- decode infomask flags as human readable flag names
+CREATE FUNCTION heap_infomask_flags(
+       infomask integer,
+       infomask2 integer,
+       decode_combined boolean DEFAULT false)
+RETURNS text[]
+AS 'MODULE_PATHNAME', 'heap_infomask_flags'

Isn't it better to name this function as tuple_infomask_flags or
something like that?  The other functions that start their name with
heap take page as input.  Also, I think the index-related functions
that start with index name take blk/page as input.

*
+   <varlistentry>
+    <term>
+     <function>heap_infomask_flags(infomask integer, infomask2
integer, decode_combined bool) returns text[]</function>
+     <indexterm>
+      <primary>heap_infomask_flags</primary>
+     </indexterm>
+    </term>
+    <listitem>
+     <para>
+      <function>heap_infomask_flags</function> decodes the
+      <structfield>t_infomask</structfield> and
+      <structfield>t_infomask2</structfield> returned by
+      <function>heap_page_items</function> into a human-readable
+      array of flag names. This can be used to see the tuple hint bits etc.
+     </para>

I think it is better to use one example for this function as we do for
other functions in this doc.

*
+     <para>
+      If decode_combined is set, combination flags like
+      <literal>HEAP_XMIN_FROZEN</literal> are output instead of raw
+      flags, <literal>HEAP_XMIN_COMMITTED</literal> and
+      <literal>HEAP_XMIN_INVALID</literal>. Default value is
+      <literal>false</literal>.
+     </para>

decode_combined should use parameter marker (like
<parameter>decode_combined</parameter>).  Instead of saying
"decode_combined" is set, you can use true/false terminology as that
is what we use for this parameter.  See explanation of "do_detoast"
that is used in function tuple_data_split in the same doc
(pageinspect.sgml) for reference.

-- 
With Regards,
Amit Kapila.
EnterpriseDB: http://www.enterprisedb.com

On Sun, Sep 8, 2019 at 1:06 PM Amit Kapila <amit.kapila16@gmail.com> wrote:
>
> On Thu, Sep 5, 2019 at 2:17 PM Masahiko Sawada <sawada.mshk@gmail.com> wrote:
> >
> > Thanks. I hope the attached new patch fixes this issue.
> >
>

Some more comments:
*
+SELECT t_infomask, t_infomask2, flags
+FROM heap_page_items
(get_raw_page('test1', 0)),
+     LATERAL heap_infomask_flags(t_infomask,
t_infomask2, true) m(flags);

Do we really need a LATERAL clause in the above kind of queries?
AFAIU, the functions can reference the columns that exist in the FROM
list, but I might be missing some point.

*
+Datum
+heap_infomask_flags(PG_FUNCTION_ARGS)
+{
+ uint16 t_infomask = PG_GETARG_INT16(0);
+ uint16 t_infomask2 = PG_GETARG_INT16(1);
+ bool decode_combined = PG_GETARG_BOOL(2);
+ int cnt = 0;
+ ArrayType *a;
+ int bitcnt;
+ Datum *d;
+
+ bitcnt = pg_popcount((const char *) &t_infomask, sizeof(uint16)) +
+ pg_popcount((const char *) &t_infomask2, sizeof(uint16));

All the functions in this file are allowed only for superusers and
there is an explanation for the same as mentioned in the file header
comments.  Is there a reason for this function to be different?

I think one possible explanation could be that here we are not passing
raw page on which this function will operate on, but isn't the same
true for tuple_data_split?

In any case, if you think that this function needs to behave
differently w.r.t superuser privileges, then it is better to add some
comments in the function header to explain the same.

*
+Datum
+heap_infomask_flags(PG_FUNCTION_ARGS)
{
..
+
+ d = (Datum *) palloc0(sizeof(Datum) * bitcnt);

It seems we don't free this memory before leaving this function.  I
think it shouldn't be a big problem as this will be normally allocated
in ExprContext and shouldn't last for long, but if there is no strong
reason, I think it is better to free it.  You can find the examples in
code both where we free after such usage and where we don't.  I prefer
to free it.

-- 
With Regards,
Amit Kapila.
EnterpriseDB: http://www.enterprisedb.com

On 2019-Sep-08, Amit Kapila wrote:

> On Thu, Sep 5, 2019 at 2:17 PM Masahiko Sawada <sawada.mshk@gmail.com> wrote:
> >
> > Thanks. I hope the attached new patch fixes this issue.
> *
> +-- decode infomask flags as human readable flag names
> +CREATE FUNCTION heap_infomask_flags(
> +       infomask integer,
> +       infomask2 integer,
> +       decode_combined boolean DEFAULT false)
> +RETURNS text[]
> +AS 'MODULE_PATHNAME', 'heap_infomask_flags'
> 
> Isn't it better to name this function as tuple_infomask_flags or
> something like that?  The other functions that start their name with
> heap take page as input.  Also, I think the index-related functions
> that start with index name take blk/page as input.

I think that other table AMs are not necessarily going to use the same
infomask flags, so I think we should keep a name that is somehow
heapam-specific.  Maybe "heapam_infomask_flags" would be okay?

> +     <function>heap_infomask_flags(infomask integer, infomask2
> integer, decode_combined bool) returns text[]</function>

> I think it is better to use one example for this function as we do for
> other functions in this doc.

Agreed.

> +     <para>
> +      If decode_combined is set, combination flags like
> +      <literal>HEAP_XMIN_FROZEN</literal> are output instead of raw
> +      flags, <literal>HEAP_XMIN_COMMITTED</literal> and
> +      <literal>HEAP_XMIN_INVALID</literal>. Default value is
> +      <literal>false</literal>.
> +     </para>
> 
> decode_combined should use parameter marker (like
> <parameter>decode_combined</parameter>).  Instead of saying
> "decode_combined" is set, you can use true/false terminology as that
> is what we use for this parameter.

Agreed.

> Some more comments:
> *
> +SELECT t_infomask, t_infomask2, flags
> +FROM heap_page_items
> (get_raw_page('test1', 0)),
> +     LATERAL heap_infomask_flags(t_infomask,
> t_infomask2, true) m(flags);
> 
> Do we really need a LATERAL clause in the above kind of queries?
> AFAIU, the functions can reference the columns that exist in the FROM
> list, but I might be missing some point.

I think the spec allows the LATERAL keyword to be implicit in the case
of functions, so this seems a matter of style.  Putting LATERAL
explicitly seems slightly clearer, to me.

> +Datum
> +heap_infomask_flags(PG_FUNCTION_ARGS)
> +{
> + uint16 t_infomask = PG_GETARG_INT16(0);
> + uint16 t_infomask2 = PG_GETARG_INT16(1);
> + bool decode_combined = PG_GETARG_BOOL(2);

> All the functions in this file are allowed only for superusers and
> there is an explanation for the same as mentioned in the file header
> comments.  Is there a reason for this function to be different?

The other functions can crash if fed arbitrary input.  I don't think
this one can crash, so it seems okay for it not to be superuser-only.

> In any case, if you think that this function needs to behave
> differently w.r.t superuser privileges, then it is better to add some
> comments in the function header to explain the same.

Yeah.

> *
> +Datum
> +heap_infomask_flags(PG_FUNCTION_ARGS)
> {
> ..
> +
> + d = (Datum *) palloc0(sizeof(Datum) * bitcnt);
> 
> It seems we don't free this memory before leaving this function.  I
> think it shouldn't be a big problem as this will be normally allocated
> in ExprContext and shouldn't last for long, but if there is no strong
> reason, I think it is better to free it.

Agreed.

-- 
Álvaro Herrera                https://www.2ndQuadrant.com/
PostgreSQL Development, 24x7 Support, Remote DBA, Training & Services

On Mon, Sep 9, 2019 at 6:22 PM Alvaro Herrera from 2ndQuadrant
<alvherre@alvh.no-ip.org> wrote:
>
> On 2019-Sep-08, Amit Kapila wrote:
>
> > On Thu, Sep 5, 2019 at 2:17 PM Masahiko Sawada <sawada.mshk@gmail.com> wrote:
> > >
> > > Thanks. I hope the attached new patch fixes this issue.
> > *
> > +-- decode infomask flags as human readable flag names
> > +CREATE FUNCTION heap_infomask_flags(
> > +       infomask integer,
> > +       infomask2 integer,
> > +       decode_combined boolean DEFAULT false)
> > +RETURNS text[]
> > +AS 'MODULE_PATHNAME', 'heap_infomask_flags'
> >
> > Isn't it better to name this function as tuple_infomask_flags or
> > something like that?  The other functions that start their name with
> > heap take page as input.  Also, I think the index-related functions
> > that start with index name take blk/page as input.
>
> I think that other table AMs are not necessarily going to use the same
> infomask flags, so I think we should keep a name that is somehow
> heapam-specific.  Maybe "heapam_infomask_flags" would be okay?
>

It will look bit strange to use heapam as a prefix for this function
when all others use heap.  I guess if we want to keep it AM specific,
then the proposed name (heap_infomask_flags) is better or
alternatively we can consider heap_tuple_infomask_flags?

>
> > Some more comments:
> > *
> > +SELECT t_infomask, t_infomask2, flags
> > +FROM heap_page_items
> > (get_raw_page('test1', 0)),
> > +     LATERAL heap_infomask_flags(t_infomask,
> > t_infomask2, true) m(flags);
> >
> > Do we really need a LATERAL clause in the above kind of queries?
> > AFAIU, the functions can reference the columns that exist in the FROM
> > list, but I might be missing some point.
>
> I think the spec allows the LATERAL keyword to be implicit in the case
> of functions, so this seems a matter of style.  Putting LATERAL
> explicitly seems slightly clearer, to me.
>

No problem.

> > +Datum
> > +heap_infomask_flags(PG_FUNCTION_ARGS)
> > +{
> > + uint16 t_infomask = PG_GETARG_INT16(0);
> > + uint16 t_infomask2 = PG_GETARG_INT16(1);
> > + bool decode_combined = PG_GETARG_BOOL(2);
>
> > All the functions in this file are allowed only for superusers and
> > there is an explanation for the same as mentioned in the file header
> > comments.  Is there a reason for this function to be different?
>
> The other functions can crash if fed arbitrary input.  I don't think
> this one can crash, so it seems okay for it not to be superuser-only.
>

At the beginning of pageinspect documentation page, we have a line
"All of these functions may be used only by superusers.".  We need to
change that and then maybe give some explanation of why this
particular function will be allowed to non-superusers.  BTW, do you
have any use case in mind for the same because anyway we need
superuser privileges to get the page contents and I think this
function can't be used independently?

-- 
With Regards,
Amit Kapila.
EnterpriseDB: http://www.enterprisedb.com

On Tue, Sep 10, 2019 at 10:21 AM Amit Kapila <amit.kapila16@gmail.com> wrote:
>
> On Mon, Sep 9, 2019 at 6:22 PM Alvaro Herrera from 2ndQuadrant
> <alvherre@alvh.no-ip.org> wrote:
> >
> > On 2019-Sep-08, Amit Kapila wrote:
> >
> > > On Thu, Sep 5, 2019 at 2:17 PM Masahiko Sawada <sawada.mshk@gmail.com> wrote:
> > > >
> > > > Thanks. I hope the attached new patch fixes this issue.
> > > *
> > > +-- decode infomask flags as human readable flag names
> > > +CREATE FUNCTION heap_infomask_flags(
> > > +       infomask integer,
> > > +       infomask2 integer,
> > > +       decode_combined boolean DEFAULT false)
> > > +RETURNS text[]
> > > +AS 'MODULE_PATHNAME', 'heap_infomask_flags'
> > >
> > > Isn't it better to name this function as tuple_infomask_flags or
> > > something like that?  The other functions that start their name with
> > > heap take page as input.  Also, I think the index-related functions
> > > that start with index name take blk/page as input.
> >
> > I think that other table AMs are not necessarily going to use the same
> > infomask flags, so I think we should keep a name that is somehow
> > heapam-specific.  Maybe "heapam_infomask_flags" would be okay?
> >
>
> It will look bit strange to use heapam as a prefix for this function
> when all others use heap.  I guess if we want to keep it AM specific,
> then the proposed name (heap_infomask_flags) is better or
> alternatively we can consider heap_tuple_infomask_flags?

+1 for heap_tuple_infomask_flags. And do we need to change
tuple_data_split to heap_tuple_data_split as well because it's also a
heap specific function?

Regards,

--
Masahiko Sawada
NIPPON TELEGRAPH AND TELEPHONE CORPORATION
NTT Open Source Software Center

On Tue, Sep 10, 2019 at 07:51:08AM +0530, Amit Kapila wrote:
> It will look bit strange to use heapam as a prefix for this function
> when all others use heap.  I guess if we want to keep it AM specific,
> then the proposed name (heap_infomask_flags) is better or
> alternatively we can consider heap_tuple_infomask_flags?

Using "heap_" as prefix of the function looks like the best choice to
me and that's more consistent with the other functions we have
already.  Using "tuple" looks sensible as well so the last name you are
proposing sounds like a good alternative.

> At the beginning of pageinspect documentation page, we have a line
> "All of these functions may be used only by superusers.".  We need to
> change that and then maybe give some explanation of why this
> particular function will be allowed to non-superusers.  BTW, do you
> have any use case in mind for the same because anyway we need
> superuser privileges to get the page contents and I think this
> function can't be used independently?

I would still keep it as superuser-restricted, to avoid any risks with
people playing with the internals of this function.  pageinspect is
sensitive enough.
--
Michael

On Tue, Sep 10, 2019 at 8:03 AM Masahiko Sawada <sawada.mshk@gmail.com> wrote:
>
> On Tue, Sep 10, 2019 at 10:21 AM Amit Kapila <amit.kapila16@gmail.com> wrote:
> >
> > On Mon, Sep 9, 2019 at 6:22 PM Alvaro Herrera from 2ndQuadrant
> > <alvherre@alvh.no-ip.org> wrote:
> > > I think that other table AMs are not necessarily going to use the same
> > > infomask flags, so I think we should keep a name that is somehow
> > > heapam-specific.  Maybe "heapam_infomask_flags" would be okay?
> > >
> >
> > It will look bit strange to use heapam as a prefix for this function
> > when all others use heap.  I guess if we want to keep it AM specific,
> > then the proposed name (heap_infomask_flags) is better or
> > alternatively we can consider heap_tuple_infomask_flags?
>
> +1 for heap_tuple_infomask_flags. And do we need to change
> tuple_data_split to heap_tuple_data_split as well because it's also a
> heap specific function?
>

Good thought, but I think even if we want to change the name of
tuple_data_split, it might be better done separately.

-- 
With Regards,
Amit Kapila.
EnterpriseDB: http://www.enterprisedb.com

On Tue, Sep 10, 2019 at 08:29:43AM +0530, Amit Kapila wrote:
> Good thought, but I think even if we want to change the name of
> tuple_data_split, it might be better done separately.

Yes, that's not the problem of this patch.  Not sure if it actually
makes sense either to change it.

The regression tests added are rather unreadable when it comes to
print a lot of infomask flags.  Could you add at least some unnest()
calls to the queries using heap_infomask_flags()?  It would make the
diff lookup much more straight-forward to understand.

It would be good to comment as well what 2816 and 1080 stand for.  The
current code makes it hard to understand for which purpose this is
used in the tests.

+      If decode_combined is set, combination flags like
Missing a markup here.

I am switching the patch as "waiting on author".  Could you address
the comments raised please?
--
Michael

On Wed, Sep 11, 2019 at 1:46 PM Michael Paquier <michael@paquier.xyz> wrote:
>
> On Tue, Sep 10, 2019 at 08:29:43AM +0530, Amit Kapila wrote:
> > Good thought, but I think even if we want to change the name of
> > tuple_data_split, it might be better done separately.
>
> Yes, that's not the problem of this patch.  Not sure if it actually
> makes sense either to change it.

Hmm it will be more consistent with other functions but I think we
would need to increase the pageinspect version to 1.8 and need the new
sql file to rename the function name. And it will be for PG12, not
PG13. If we have to do it someday I think it's better to do it in PG12
that the table AM has been introduced to. Anyway I've attached
separate patch for it.

>
> The regression tests added are rather unreadable when it comes to
> print a lot of infomask flags.  Could you add at least some unnest()
> calls to the queries using heap_infomask_flags()?  It would make the
> diff lookup much more straight-forward to understand.
>

Seems good idea.

> It would be good to comment as well what 2816 and 1080 stand for.  The
> current code makes it hard to understand for which purpose this is
> used in the tests.

I've reconsidered and updated the regression tests.

>
> +      If decode_combined is set, combination flags like
> Missing a markup here.
>

Fixed.

I've attached the updated patch that incorporated all comments. I kept
the function as superuser-restricted.

Regards,

--
Masahiko Sawada
NIPPON TELEGRAPH AND TELEPHONE CORPORATION
NTT Open Source Software Center

On 2019-Sep-11, Masahiko Sawada wrote:

> On Wed, Sep 11, 2019 at 1:46 PM Michael Paquier <michael@paquier.xyz> wrote:
> >
> > On Tue, Sep 10, 2019 at 08:29:43AM +0530, Amit Kapila wrote:
> > > Good thought, but I think even if we want to change the name of
> > > tuple_data_split, it might be better done separately.
> >
> > Yes, that's not the problem of this patch.  Not sure if it actually
> > makes sense either to change it.
> 
> Hmm it will be more consistent with other functions but I think we
> would need to increase the pageinspect version to 1.8 and need the new
> sql file to rename the function name. And it will be for PG12, not
> PG13. If we have to do it someday I think it's better to do it in PG12
> that the table AM has been introduced to. Anyway I've attached
> separate patch for it.

I'd rather not change the name of the existing function ... that
function is pretty old (it was introduced in 9.6, commit d6061f83a166).
I think we can regard that name as an historical accident, and use a
modern name convention for the new function (and any hypothetical future
ones) that will, sadly, collide with the historical name for the old
function.

-- 
Álvaro Herrera                https://www.2ndQuadrant.com/
PostgreSQL Development, 24x7 Support, Remote DBA, Training & Services

On Wed, Sep 11, 2019 at 11:30 PM Alvaro Herrera from 2ndQuadrant
<alvherre@alvh.no-ip.org> wrote:
>
> On 2019-Sep-11, Masahiko Sawada wrote:
>
> > On Wed, Sep 11, 2019 at 1:46 PM Michael Paquier <michael@paquier.xyz> wrote:
> > >
> > > On Tue, Sep 10, 2019 at 08:29:43AM +0530, Amit Kapila wrote:
> > > > Good thought, but I think even if we want to change the name of
> > > > tuple_data_split, it might be better done separately.
> > >
> > > Yes, that's not the problem of this patch.  Not sure if it actually
> > > makes sense either to change it.
> >
> > Hmm it will be more consistent with other functions but I think we
> > would need to increase the pageinspect version to 1.8 and need the new
> > sql file to rename the function name. And it will be for PG12, not
> > PG13. If we have to do it someday I think it's better to do it in PG12
> > that the table AM has been introduced to. Anyway I've attached
> > separate patch for it.
>
> I'd rather not change the name of the existing function ... that
> function is pretty old (it was introduced in 9.6, commit d6061f83a166).
> I think we can regard that name as an historical accident, and use a
> modern name convention for the new function (and any hypothetical future
> ones) that will, sadly, collide with the historical name for the old
> function.

Okay, that makes sense.

Regards,

--
Masahiko Sawada
NIPPON TELEGRAPH AND TELEPHONE CORPORATION
NTT Open Source Software Center

On Wed, Sep 11, 2019 at 8:53 PM Masahiko Sawada <sawada.mshk@gmail.com> wrote:
>
> I've attached the updated patch that incorporated all comments. I kept
> the function as superuser-restricted.
>

Thanks for the updated patch.

Few more comments:

*
+ if (!superuser())
+ ereport(ERROR,
+ (errcode
(ERRCODE_INSUFFICIENT_PRIVILEGE),
+ errmsg("must be superuser to use raw
page functions")));

I think it is better to use a message like "must be superuser to use
pageinspect functions" as this function doesn't take raw page as
input.  If you see other functions like bt_page_items which doesn't
take raw page as input has the message which I am suggesting.  I can
see that tuple_data_split also has a similar message as you are
proposing, but I think that is also not very appropriate.

*
else
+ {
+ if (HEAP_XMAX_IS_LOCKED_ONLY(t_infomask))
+ d[cnt++] = CStringGetTextDatum
("HEAP_XMAX_LOCK_ONLY");

If the idea is that whenever decode_combined flag is false, we will
display the raw flags set on the tuple, then why to try to interpret
flags on a tuple in the above case.

*
+ if (decode_combined &&
+ HEAP_LOCKED_UPGRADED(t_infomask))
+ d[cnt++] = CStringGetTextDatum("HEAP_LOCKED_UPGRADED");
+ else
+ {
+ if (HEAP_XMAX_IS_LOCKED_ONLY(t_infomask))
+ d[cnt++] = CStringGetTextDatum
("HEAP_XMAX_LOCK_ONLY");
+ if ((t_infomask & HEAP_XMAX_IS_MULTI) != 0)
+ d[cnt++] = CStringGetTextDatum
("HEAP_XMAX_IS_MULTI");
+ }

I am not completely sure whether we want to cover HEAP_LOCKED_UPGRADED
case even when decode_combined flag is set.  It seems this is a bit
more interpretation of flags than we are doing in other cases.  For
example, other cases like HEAP_XMAX_SHR_LOCK or HEAP_XMIN_FROZEN are
the flags that are explicitly set on the tuple so displaying them
makes sense, but the same is not true for HEAP_LOCKED_UPGRADED.

*
+CREATE FUNCTION heap_tuple_infomask_flags(
+       t_infomask integer,
+       t_infomask2 integer,
+       decode_combined boolean DEFAULT false)

I am not very happy with the parameter name 'decode_combined'.  It is
not clear from the name what it means and I think it doesn't even
match with what we are actually doing here.  How about raw_flags,
raw_tuple_flags or something like that?

-- 
With Regards,
Amit Kapila.
EnterpriseDB: http://www.enterprisedb.com

On Wed, Sep 11, 2019 at 11:22:45PM +0800, Masahiko Sawada wrote:
> Hmm it will be more consistent with other functions but I think we
> would need to increase the pageinspect version to 1.8 and need the new
> sql file to rename the function name. And it will be for PG12, not
> PG13. If we have to do it someday I think it's better to do it in PG12
> that the table AM has been introduced to. Anyway I've attached
> separate patch for it.

Like Alvaro, I would discard this one for now.

> I've attached the updated patch that incorporated all comments. I kept
> the function as superuser-restricted.

But not this one.  So committed.  I have gone through the patch and
adjusted a couple of things in the tests, the docs with weird
formulations and an example leading mainly to NULLs returned when
scanning the first page of pg_class.  The tests needed some
improvements to gain in clarity (no need for unnest with 2 elements,
added tests for all the combined flags, etc.).  The patch was not
indented either but this is no big deal.

I hope I forgot to credit nobody in the commit message.  If that's the
case, you are the winner of a drink of your choice the next time we
meet.
--
Michael

On Thu, Sep 12, 2019 at 11:43 AM Michael Paquier <michael@paquier.xyz> wrote:
>
> On Wed, Sep 11, 2019 at 11:22:45PM +0800, Masahiko Sawada wrote:
> > Hmm it will be more consistent with other functions but I think we
> > would need to increase the pageinspect version to 1.8 and need the new
> > sql file to rename the function name. And it will be for PG12, not
> > PG13. If we have to do it someday I think it's better to do it in PG12
> > that the table AM has been introduced to. Anyway I've attached
> > separate patch for it.
>
> Like Alvaro, I would discard this one for now.
>
> > I've attached the updated patch that incorporated all comments. I kept
> > the function as superuser-restricted.
>
> But not this one.  So committed.
>

I had a few comments as posted in the previous email which I think we
can address incrementally as the patch for those is produced.
However, one point which I am slightly worried is the last one in my
email.  Are we happy with the name of the new parameter in the API
decode_combined?  Because if we decide to change that then we need to
change the exposed API and I think in the ideal case we need to change
the version as well, but I might be wrong and maybe the parameter name
as committed is good enough in which case we should be good.

-- 
With Regards,
Amit Kapila.
EnterpriseDB: http://www.enterprisedb.com

On Thu, Sep 12, 2019 at 1:56 PM Amit Kapila <amit.kapila16@gmail.com> wrote:
>
> On Wed, Sep 11, 2019 at 8:53 PM Masahiko Sawada <sawada.mshk@gmail.com> wrote:
> >
> > I've attached the updated patch that incorporated all comments. I kept
> > the function as superuser-restricted.
> >
>
> Thanks for the updated patch.
>
> Few more comments:

Thank you for your comments.

>
> *
> + if (!superuser())
> + ereport(ERROR,
> + (errcode
> (ERRCODE_INSUFFICIENT_PRIVILEGE),
> + errmsg("must be superuser to use raw
> page functions")));
>
> I think it is better to use a message like "must be superuser to use
> pageinspect functions" as this function doesn't take raw page as
> input.  If you see other functions like bt_page_items which doesn't
> take raw page as input has the message which I am suggesting.  I can
> see that tuple_data_split also has a similar message as you are
> proposing, but I think that is also not very appropriate.

Agreed. Will fix.

>
> *
> else
> + {
> + if (HEAP_XMAX_IS_LOCKED_ONLY(t_infomask))
> + d[cnt++] = CStringGetTextDatum
> ("HEAP_XMAX_LOCK_ONLY");
>
> If the idea is that whenever decode_combined flag is false, we will
> display the raw flags set on the tuple, then why to try to interpret
> flags on a tuple in the above case.

Hmm my understanding of 'decode_combined' is to decode the flags that
we represent by using multiple flags. HEAP_XMAX_IS_LOCKED_ONLY is true
either if HEAP_XMAX_LOCK_ONLY is set or not a multi and the EXCL_LOCK
bit is set. That is it requires only one flag. So I thought that it's
not a combined flag.

>
> *
> + if (decode_combined &&
> + HEAP_LOCKED_UPGRADED(t_infomask))
> + d[cnt++] = CStringGetTextDatum("HEAP_LOCKED_UPGRADED");
> + else
> + {
> + if (HEAP_XMAX_IS_LOCKED_ONLY(t_infomask))
> + d[cnt++] = CStringGetTextDatum
> ("HEAP_XMAX_LOCK_ONLY");
> + if ((t_infomask & HEAP_XMAX_IS_MULTI) != 0)
> + d[cnt++] = CStringGetTextDatum
> ("HEAP_XMAX_IS_MULTI");
> + }
>
> I am not completely sure whether we want to cover HEAP_LOCKED_UPGRADED
> case even when decode_combined flag is set.  It seems this is a bit
> more interpretation of flags than we are doing in other cases.  For
> example, other cases like HEAP_XMAX_SHR_LOCK or HEAP_XMIN_FROZEN are
> the flags that are explicitly set on the tuple so displaying them
> makes sense, but the same is not true for HEAP_LOCKED_UPGRADED.
>

I thought it would be better to interpret it as much as possible,
especially for diagnostic use cases. I'm concerned that user might not
be able to get enough information for investigation if we
intentionally filtered particular flags.

> *
> +CREATE FUNCTION heap_tuple_infomask_flags(
> +       t_infomask integer,
> +       t_infomask2 integer,
> +       decode_combined boolean DEFAULT false)
>
> I am not very happy with the parameter name 'decode_combined'.  It is
> not clear from the name what it means and I think it doesn't even
> match with what we are actually doing here.  How about raw_flags,
> raw_tuple_flags or something like that?
>

raw_flags might be more straightforward. Or perhaps the third idea
could be show_raw_flags? If other hackers agree to change the flag
name I'll fix it.

I'll submit the patch to fix the commit after we got a consensus on
the above changes.



Regards,

--
Masahiko Sawada
NIPPON TELEGRAPH AND TELEPHONE CORPORATION
NTT Open Source Software Center

On Thu, Sep 12, 2019 at 05:34:08PM +0800, Masahiko Sawada wrote:
> On Thu, Sep 12, 2019 at 1:56 PM Amit Kapila <amit.kapila16@gmail.com> wrote:
>> I think it is better to use a message like "must be superuser to use
>> pageinspect functions" as this function doesn't take raw page as
>> input.  If you see other functions like bt_page_items which doesn't
>> take raw page as input has the message which I am suggesting.  I can
>> see that tuple_data_split also has a similar message as you are
>> proposing, but I think that is also not very appropriate.
>
> Agreed. Will fix.

Well, those functions are all able to work only from data of a raw
page, so the existing message was actually fine by me.  If you want to
change it this way, I don't see either any arguments against.

> Hmm my understanding of 'decode_combined' is to decode the flags that
> we represent by using multiple flags. HEAP_XMAX_IS_LOCKED_ONLY is true
> either if HEAP_XMAX_LOCK_ONLY is set or not a multi and the EXCL_LOCK
> bit is set. That is it requires only one flag. So I thought that it's
> not a combined flag.

Same interpretation here.

>> I am not completely sure whether we want to cover HEAP_LOCKED_UPGRADED
>> case even when decode_combined flag is set.  It seems this is a bit
>> more interpretation of flags than we are doing in other cases.  For
>> example, other cases like HEAP_XMAX_SHR_LOCK or HEAP_XMIN_FROZEN are
>> the flags that are explicitly set on the tuple so displaying them
>> makes sense, but the same is not true for HEAP_LOCKED_UPGRADED.
>
> I thought it would be better to interpret it as much as possible,
> especially for diagnostic use cases. I'm concerned that user might not
> be able to get enough information for investigation if we
> intentionally filtered particular flags.

For HEAP_LOCKED_UPGRADED, my interpretation was that the current code
is correct to understand it as a decomposition of HEAP_XMAX_IS_MULTI
and HEAP_XMAX_LOCK_ONLY, still...

It seems to me that the way we define combined flags is subject to
a lot of interpretation.  Honestly, if we cannot come up with a clear
definition of what should be combined or not, I would be of the
opinion to just wipe out the option, and just return in the text array
the bits which are set.  It has been discussed on the thread that it
would be confusing to not show combined flags to some users as some
bits set have rather contrary meaning when set with others.  We tell
the user that all the flag details are defined in htup_details.h in
the code and the documentation so the information is not in the
returned data, but in the code.  And I would like to think that users
of pageinspect are knowledgeable enough about Postgres that they would
likely never use decode_combined = true.  Likely I am outnumbered
regarding this point, so I won't push hard on it, still I get that the
confusion does not come from this module, but in the way the code
combines and names all the bits for the infomasks :)

And there would be the argument to not use HEAP_XMAX_IS_LOCKED_ONLY()
in the code.

>> I am not very happy with the parameter name 'decode_combined'.  It is
>> not clear from the name what it means and I think it doesn't even
>> match with what we are actually doing here.  How about raw_flags,
>> raw_tuple_flags or something like that?
>>
>
> raw_flags might be more straightforward. Or perhaps the third idea
> could be show_raw_flags? If other hackers agree to change the flag
> name I'll fix it.
>
> I'll submit the patch to fix the commit after we got a consensus on
> the above changes.

decode_combined sounds like a good compromise to me.  If there is a
better consensus, well, let's use it, but I don't find those
suggestions to be improvements.
--
Michael

On Thu, Sep 12, 2019 at 4:48 PM Michael Paquier <michael@paquier.xyz> wrote:
>
> On Thu, Sep 12, 2019 at 05:34:08PM +0800, Masahiko Sawada wrote:
> > On Thu, Sep 12, 2019 at 1:56 PM Amit Kapila <amit.kapila16@gmail.com> wrote:
> >> I think it is better to use a message like "must be superuser to use
> >> pageinspect functions" as this function doesn't take raw page as
> >> input.  If you see other functions like bt_page_items which doesn't
> >> take raw page as input has the message which I am suggesting.  I can
> >> see that tuple_data_split also has a similar message as you are
> >> proposing, but I think that is also not very appropriate.
> >
> > Agreed. Will fix.
>
> Well, those functions are all able to work only from data of a raw
> page, so the existing message was actually fine by me.  If you want to
> change it this way, I don't see either any arguments against.
>
> > Hmm my understanding of 'decode_combined' is to decode the flags that
> > we represent by using multiple flags. HEAP_XMAX_IS_LOCKED_ONLY is true
> > either if HEAP_XMAX_LOCK_ONLY is set or not a multi and the EXCL_LOCK
> > bit is set. That is it requires only one flag. So I thought that it's
> > not a combined flag.
>
> Same interpretation here.
>

Hmm, I thought when decode_combined flag is set to false means we will
display the raw flags set on the tuple without any further
interpretation.  I think that is what is most people in thread
advocated about.

> >> I am not completely sure whether we want to cover HEAP_LOCKED_UPGRADED
> >> case even when decode_combined flag is set.  It seems this is a bit
> >> more interpretation of flags than we are doing in other cases.  For
> >> example, other cases like HEAP_XMAX_SHR_LOCK or HEAP_XMIN_FROZEN are
> >> the flags that are explicitly set on the tuple so displaying them
> >> makes sense, but the same is not true for HEAP_LOCKED_UPGRADED.
> >
> > I thought it would be better to interpret it as much as possible,
> > especially for diagnostic use cases. I'm concerned that user might not
> > be able to get enough information for investigation if we
> > intentionally filtered particular flags.
>
> For HEAP_LOCKED_UPGRADED, my interpretation was that the current code
> is correct to understand it as a decomposition of HEAP_XMAX_IS_MULTI
> and HEAP_XMAX_LOCK_ONLY, still...
>
> It seems to me that the way we define combined flags is subject to
> a lot of interpretation.
>

Right.

>  Honestly, if we cannot come up with a clear
> definition of what should be combined or not, I would be of the
> opinion to just wipe out the option, and just return in the text array
> the bits which are set.  It has been discussed on the thread that it
> would be confusing to not show combined flags to some users as some
> bits set have rather contrary meaning when set with others.
>

Yes, I think we could have more discussion on this point.  It is not
100% clear how we should interpret this flag and or where to draw a
line.  It might be that whatever we have done is alright, but still,
it is worth more discussion and opinion from a few more people.

> We tell
> the user that all the flag details are defined in htup_details.h in
> the code and the documentation so the information is not in the
> returned data, but in the code.  And I would like to think that users
> of pageinspect are knowledgeable enough about Postgres that they would
> likely never use decode_combined = true.  Likely I am outnumbered
> regarding this point, so I won't push hard on it, still I get that the
> confusion does not come from this module, but in the way the code
> combines and names all the bits for the infomasks :)
>
> And there would be the argument to not use HEAP_XMAX_IS_LOCKED_ONLY()
> in the code.
>
> >> I am not very happy with the parameter name 'decode_combined'.  It is
> >> not clear from the name what it means and I think it doesn't even
> >> match with what we are actually doing here.  How about raw_flags,
> >> raw_tuple_flags or something like that?
> >>
> >
> > raw_flags might be more straightforward. Or perhaps the third idea
> > could be show_raw_flags? If other hackers agree to change the flag
> > name I'll fix it.
> >
> > I'll submit the patch to fix the commit after we got a consensus on
> > the above changes.
>
> decode_combined sounds like a good compromise to me.  If there is a
> better consensus, well, let's use it, but I don't find those
> suggestions to be improvements.
>

I think it depends on the meaning of that flag.

-- 
With Regards,
Amit Kapila.
EnterpriseDB: http://www.enterprisedb.com

On Thu, Sep 12, 2019 at 05:24:17PM +0530, Amit Kapila wrote:
> On Thu, Sep 12, 2019 at 4:48 PM Michael Paquier <michael@paquier.xyz> wrote:
> Hmm, I thought when decode_combined flag is set to false means we will
> display the raw flags set on the tuple without any further
> interpretation.  I think that is what is most people in thread
> advocated about.

Sorry if I created any confusion.  When set to false then the raw list
of flags is returned, and that's the default.  The example provided in
the docs is careful about that, as well as the description done for
the option (at least I guess so!).

> Yes, I think we could have more discussion on this point.  It is not
> 100% clear how we should interpret this flag and or where to draw a
> line.  It might be that whatever we have done is alright, but still,
> it is worth more discussion and opinion from a few more people.

Of course.

>> decode_combined sounds like a good compromise to me.  If there is a
>> better consensus, well, let's use it, but I don't find those
>> suggestions to be improvements.
>
> I think it depends on the meaning of that flag.

Perhaps using "decode" is the confusing part here?  It is more like a
"merge" of the flags, or just a combination of them.  An idea that
just popped here would be to name the switch "combine_flags" instead.
--
Michael

On Fri, Sep 13, 2019 at 9:00 AM Michael Paquier <michael@paquier.xyz> wrote:
>
> On Thu, Sep 12, 2019 at 05:24:17PM +0530, Amit Kapila wrote:
> > On Thu, Sep 12, 2019 at 4:48 PM Michael Paquier <michael@paquier.xyz> wrote:
> > Hmm, I thought when decode_combined flag is set to false means we will
> > display the raw flags set on the tuple without any further
> > interpretation.  I think that is what is most people in thread
> > advocated about.
>
> Sorry if I created any confusion.  When set to false then the raw list
> of flags is returned, and that's the default.
>

I think that is what we have not done in one of the cases pointed by me.

-- 
With Regards,
Amit Kapila.
EnterpriseDB: http://www.enterprisedb.com

On Fri, Sep 13, 2019 at 09:59:40AM +0530, Amit Kapila wrote:
> I think that is what we have not done in one of the cases pointed by me.

Thinking more about it, I see your point now.  HEAP_LOCKED_UPGRADED is
not a direct combination of the other flags and depends on other
conditions, so we cannot make a combination of it with other things.
The three others don't have that problem.

Attached is a patch to fix your suggestions.  This also removes the
use of HEAP_XMAX_IS_LOCKED_ONLY which did not make completely sense
either as a "raw" flag.  While on it, the order of the flags can be
improved to match more the order of htup_details.h

Does this patch address your concerns?
--
Michael

On 2019-Sep-13, Michael Paquier wrote:

> Attached is a patch to fix your suggestions.  This also removes the
> use of HEAP_XMAX_IS_LOCKED_ONLY which did not make completely sense
> either as a "raw" flag.  While on it, the order of the flags can be
> improved to match more the order of htup_details.h

A thought I had as I fell asleep last night is to include the derivate
flags in a separate output column altogether.  So
heap_tuple_infomask_flags() could be made to return two columns, one
with the straight one-flag-per-bit, and another one with the compound
flags.  That way we always have the raw ones available, and we avoid any
confusion about strange cases such as LOCK_UPGRADED and IS_LOCKED_ONLY.

-- 
Álvaro Herrera                https://www.2ndQuadrant.com/
PostgreSQL Development, 24x7 Support, Remote DBA, Training & Services

On Fri, Sep 13, 2019 at 5:31 PM Alvaro Herrera <alvherre@2ndquadrant.com> wrote:
>
> On 2019-Sep-13, Michael Paquier wrote:
>
> > Attached is a patch to fix your suggestions.  This also removes the
> > use of HEAP_XMAX_IS_LOCKED_ONLY which did not make completely sense
> > either as a "raw" flag.  While on it, the order of the flags can be
> > improved to match more the order of htup_details.h
>
> A thought I had as I fell asleep last night is to include the derivate
> flags in a separate output column altogether.  So
> heap_tuple_infomask_flags() could be made to return two columns, one
> with the straight one-flag-per-bit, and another one with the compound
> flags.
>

So, in most cases, the compound column will be empty, but in some
cases like HEAP_XMIN_FROZEN, HEAP_XMAX_SHR_LOCK, etc. the flag will be
displayed.  I like this idea though it will be a bit of noise in some
cases but it is neat.  Another benefit is that one doesn't need to
invoke this function twice to see the compound flags.

>  That way we always have the raw ones available, and we avoid any
> confusion about strange cases such as LOCK_UPGRADED and IS_LOCKED_ONLY.
>

Yeah, but I am not sure if we want to do display LOCK_UPGRADED stuff
in the compound column as that is not directly comparable to other
flags we want to display there like HEAP_XMIN_FROZEN,
HEAP_XMAX_SHR_LOCK.

-- 
With Regards,
Amit Kapila.
EnterpriseDB: http://www.enterprisedb.com

On Fri, Sep 13, 2019 at 10:42 AM Michael Paquier <michael@paquier.xyz> wrote:
>
> On Fri, Sep 13, 2019 at 09:59:40AM +0530, Amit Kapila wrote:
> > I think that is what we have not done in one of the cases pointed by me.
>
> Thinking more about it, I see your point now.  HEAP_LOCKED_UPGRADED is
> not a direct combination of the other flags and depends on other
> conditions, so we cannot make a combination of it with other things.
> The three others don't have that problem.
>
> Attached is a patch to fix your suggestions.  This also removes the
> use of HEAP_XMAX_IS_LOCKED_ONLY which did not make completely sense
> either as a "raw" flag.  While on it, the order of the flags can be
> improved to match more the order of htup_details.h
>
> Does this patch address your concerns?
>

Yeah, but I think we should also try to see what we want to do about
'decode_combined' flag-related point, maybe we can adapt to what
Alvaro has purposed?

-- 
With Regards,
Amit Kapila.
EnterpriseDB: http://www.enterprisedb.com

On Sat, Sep 14, 2019 at 09:51:33AM +0530, Amit Kapila wrote:
> Yeah, but I think we should also try to see what we want to do about
> 'decode_combined' flag-related point, maybe we can adapt to what
> Alvaro has purposed?

Thanks, I'll keep note of this patch.  I was just going to comment on
the other point raised :)
--
Michael

On Sat, Sep 14, 2019 at 09:25:31AM +0530, Amit Kapila wrote:
> On Fri, Sep 13, 2019 at 5:31 PM Alvaro Herrera <alvherre@2ndquadrant.com> wrote:
>> A thought I had as I fell asleep last night is to include the derivate
>> flags in a separate output column altogether.  So
>> heap_tuple_infomask_flags() could be made to return two columns, one
>> with the straight one-flag-per-bit, and another one with the compound
>> flags.
>
> So, in most cases, the compound column will be empty, but in some
> cases like HEAP_XMIN_FROZEN, HEAP_XMAX_SHR_LOCK, etc. the flag will be
> displayed.  I like this idea though it will be a bit of noise in some
> cases but it is neat.  Another benefit is that one doesn't need to
> invoke this function twice to see the compound flags.

Hmmm.  Doesn't it become less user-friendly to invoke the function
then?  You would need to pass it down to the FROM clause after
fetching the raw page and then parsing its tuple items to have
t_infomask and t_infomask2 passed down as arguments to the new
function.  The one-column version has the advantage to be more
consistent with tuple_data_split() after getting all the values parsed
by heap_page_items().

>>  That way we always have the raw ones available, and we avoid any
>> confusion about strange cases such as LOCK_UPGRADED and IS_LOCKED_ONLY.
>
> Yeah, but I am not sure if we want to do display LOCK_UPGRADED stuff
> in the compound column as that is not directly comparable to other
> flags we want to display there like HEAP_XMIN_FROZEN,
> HEAP_XMAX_SHR_LOCK.

Yep, I agree that this one ought to not be considered as a proper
combination.  The other three ones are fine though.
--
Michael

On Sat, Sep 14, 2019 at 10:10 AM Michael Paquier <michael@paquier.xyz> wrote:
>
> On Sat, Sep 14, 2019 at 09:25:31AM +0530, Amit Kapila wrote:
> > On Fri, Sep 13, 2019 at 5:31 PM Alvaro Herrera <alvherre@2ndquadrant.com> wrote:
> >> A thought I had as I fell asleep last night is to include the derivate
> >> flags in a separate output column altogether.  So
> >> heap_tuple_infomask_flags() could be made to return two columns, one
> >> with the straight one-flag-per-bit, and another one with the compound
> >> flags.
> >
> > So, in most cases, the compound column will be empty, but in some
> > cases like HEAP_XMIN_FROZEN, HEAP_XMAX_SHR_LOCK, etc. the flag will be
> > displayed.  I like this idea though it will be a bit of noise in some
> > cases but it is neat.  Another benefit is that one doesn't need to
> > invoke this function twice to see the compound flags.
>
> Hmmm.  Doesn't it become less user-friendly to invoke the function
> then?  You would need to pass it down to the FROM clause after
> fetching the raw page and then parsing its tuple items to have
> t_infomask and t_infomask2 passed down as arguments to the new
> function.  The one-column version has the advantage to be more
> consistent with tuple_data_split() after getting all the values parsed
> by heap_page_items().
>

Won't 'Lateral' clause be helpful here as the patch contains it in one
of its tests?

-- 
With Regards,
Amit Kapila.
EnterpriseDB: http://www.enterprisedb.com

On Sat, Sep 14, 2019 at 11:18:37AM +0530, Amit Kapila wrote:
> Won't 'Lateral' clause be helpful here as the patch contains it in one
> of its tests?

Ah true, I forgot that.
--
Michael

On Sat, Sep 14, 2019 at 03:03:57PM +0900, Michael Paquier wrote:
> On Sat, Sep 14, 2019 at 11:18:37AM +0530, Amit Kapila wrote:
>> Won't 'Lateral' clause be helpful here as the patch contains it in one
>> of its tests?
>
> Ah true, I forgot that.

If we are redesigning the interface, here are two extra thoughts which
may be worth considering:
1) If the function returns multiple columns, could it make sense to
separate infomask and infomask2?  This would then give 3 columns:
- The raw flags for infomask.
- The three combined flags for infomask.
- The flags for infomask2.
2) Could it make sense to have a separate function for infomask2?

I'd rather keep everything in a single function, still as we are
discussing the matter..
--
Michael

On Sat, Sep 14, 2019 at 3:00 PM Michael Paquier <michael@paquier.xyz> wrote:
>
> On Sat, Sep 14, 2019 at 03:03:57PM +0900, Michael Paquier wrote:
> > On Sat, Sep 14, 2019 at 11:18:37AM +0530, Amit Kapila wrote:
> >> Won't 'Lateral' clause be helpful here as the patch contains it in one
> >> of its tests?
> >
> > Ah true, I forgot that.
>
> If we are redesigning the interface, here are two extra thoughts which
> may be worth considering:
> 1) If the function returns multiple columns, could it make sense to
> separate infomask and infomask2?  This would then give 3 columns:
> - The raw flags for infomask.
> - The three combined flags for infomask.
> - The flags for infomask2.
> 2) Could it make sense to have a separate function for infomask2?
>

I don't see much use of separating information for infomask and infomask2.

-- 
With Regards,
Amit Kapila.
EnterpriseDB: http://www.enterprisedb.com

On Mon, Sep 16, 2019 at 11:46:16AM +0530, Amit Kapila wrote:
> I don't see much use of separating information for infomask and infomask2.

Okay, using two separate columns leads to the attached.  Any thoughts?
This also includes a fix for cases with IS_LOCKED_ONLY and UPGRADED.
--
Michael

On 2019-Sep-16, Michael Paquier wrote:

> On Mon, Sep 16, 2019 at 11:46:16AM +0530, Amit Kapila wrote:
> > I don't see much use of separating information for infomask and infomask2.
> 
> Okay, using two separate columns leads to the attached.  Any thoughts?
> This also includes a fix for cases with IS_LOCKED_ONLY and UPGRADED.

I like how it looks in the expected test output.  Didn't review the code
closely, but it looks reasonable in a quick glance.

Whitespace nitpick: pgindent will do something very annoying with this:

> +        PG_RETURN_DATUM(
> +            HeapTupleGetDatum(heap_form_tuple(tupdesc, values, nulls)));

I suggest to split the line in the first comma, not in the parens.

> +      Combined flags include for example <literal>HEAP_XMIN_FROZEN</literal>
> +      which is defined as a set of <literal>HEAP_XMIN_COMMITTED</literal>
> +      and <literal>HEAP_XMIN_INVALID</literal>.

I suggest something like "Combined flags are displayed for source-level
macros that take into account the value of more than one raw bit, such
as HEAP_XMIN_FROZEN".  (We probably don't want an exhaustive list, which
becomes annoying to maintain; users can refer to the source file.)

There's a typo "bites" in a comment.

-- 
Álvaro Herrera                https://www.2ndQuadrant.com/
PostgreSQL Development, 24x7 Support, Remote DBA, Training & Services

On Mon, Sep 16, 2019 at 11:11:06AM -0300, Alvaro Herrera wrote:
> On 2019-Sep-16, Michael Paquier wrote:
>> On Mon, Sep 16, 2019 at 11:46:16AM +0530, Amit Kapila wrote:
>> Okay, using two separate columns leads to the attached.  Any thoughts?
>> This also includes a fix for cases with IS_LOCKED_ONLY and UPGRADED.
>
> I like how it looks in the expected test output.  Didn't review the code
> closely, but it looks reasonable in a quick glance.

Thanks for the review.

> Whitespace nitpick: pgindent will do something very annoying with
> this:
>
>> +        PG_RETURN_DATUM(
>> +            HeapTupleGetDatum(heap_form_tuple(tupdesc, values, nulls)));
>
> I suggest to split the line in the first comma, not in the parens.

Indeed.  I am switching to use a HeapTuple as intermediate step
instead.

>> +      Combined flags include for example <literal>HEAP_XMIN_FROZEN</literal>
>> +      which is defined as a set of <literal>HEAP_XMIN_COMMITTED</literal>
>> +      and <literal>HEAP_XMIN_INVALID</literal>.
>
> I suggest something like "Combined flags are displayed for source-level
> macros that take into account the value of more than one raw bit, such
> as HEAP_XMIN_FROZEN".  (We probably don't want an exhaustive list, which
> becomes annoying to maintain; users can refer to the source file.)

Yes, I didn't want to provide a list for that exact reason, and your
suggestion of change sounds fine to me.

> There's a typo "bites" in a comment.

Thanks, fixed.

Amit, what do you think?  Does the patch match with what you have in
mind?
--
Michael

On Tue, Sep 17, 2019 at 6:14 AM Michael Paquier <michael@paquier.xyz> wrote:
>
> On Mon, Sep 16, 2019 at 11:11:06AM -0300, Alvaro Herrera wrote:
> > On 2019-Sep-16, Michael Paquier wrote:
>
> Thanks, fixed.
>
> Amit, what do you think?  Does the patch match with what you have in
> mind?
>

*
 CREATE FUNCTION heap_tuple_infomask_flags(
        t_infomask integer,
        t_infomask2 integer,
-       decode_combined boolean DEFAULT false)
-RETURNS text[]
+       raw_flags OUT text[],
+       combined_flags OUT text[])
+RETURNS SETOF record

We always return a single tuple/record from this function, so do we
really need to return SETOF record or just returning record is
sufficient?

*
+ pfree(flags);
+ values[0] = PointerGetDatum(a);

- pfree(d);
+ /*
+ * Build set of combined flags.  Use the same size as previously for the
+ * allocation, this likely wastes a couple of bytes but it keeps the code
+ * simple.
+ */
+ cnt = 0;
+ flags = (Datum *) palloc0(sizeof(Datum) * bitcnt);

If you want to use the same size array, then you might want to just
memset the previous array rather than first freeing it and then again
allocating it.  This is not a big point, so any which way is fine.

-- 
With Regards,
Amit Kapila.
EnterpriseDB: http://www.enterprisedb.com

On Tue, Sep 17, 2019 at 09:23:45AM +0530, Amit Kapila wrote:
> We always return a single tuple/record from this function, so do we
> really need to return SETOF record or just returning record is
> sufficient?

Right (with the doc update).

> If you want to use the same size array, then you might want to just
> memset the previous array rather than first freeing it and then again
> allocating it.  This is not a big point, so any which way is fine.

Sure.  This is less expensive though, so changed it the way you
are suggesting on my local branch.
--
Michael

On Tue, Sep 17, 2019 at 01:06:18PM +0900, Michael Paquier wrote:
> On Tue, Sep 17, 2019 at 09:23:45AM +0530, Amit Kapila wrote:
>> If you want to use the same size array, then you might want to just
>> memset the previous array rather than first freeing it and then again
>> allocating it.  This is not a big point, so any which way is fine.
>
> Sure.  This is less expensive though, so changed it the way you
> are suggesting on my local branch.

I am attaching an updated patch for now that I would like to commit.
Are there more comments about the shape of the patch, the name of the
columns for the function, etc.?
--
Michael

On Wed, Sep 18, 2019 at 10:37:27AM +0900, Michael Paquier wrote:
> I am attaching an updated patch for now that I would like to commit.
> Are there more comments about the shape of the patch, the name of the
> columns for the function, etc.?

Okay, I have done an extra round of review, and committed it.
--
Michael

On Thu, Sep 19, 2019 at 7:34 AM Michael Paquier <michael@paquier.xyz> wrote:
>
> On Wed, Sep 18, 2019 at 10:37:27AM +0900, Michael Paquier wrote:
> > I am attaching an updated patch for now that I would like to commit.
> > Are there more comments about the shape of the patch, the name of the
> > columns for the function, etc.?
>
> Okay, I have done an extra round of review, and committed it.
>

Thanks.  I was about to have a look today, but anyway I checked the
committed patch and it looks fine.

-- 
With Regards,
Amit Kapila.
EnterpriseDB: http://www.enterprisedb.com

On Thu, Sep 19, 2019 at 08:22:04AM +0530, Amit Kapila wrote:
> Thanks.  I was about to have a look today, but anyway I checked the
> committed patch and it looks fine.

Thanks Amit for double-checking.
--
Michael