Thread: [PATCH 1/1] Initial mach based shared memory support.

[PATCH 1/1] Initial mach based shared memory support.

From
James Hilliard
Date:
OSX implements sysv shmem support via a mach wrapper, however the mach
sysv shmem wrapper has some severe restrictions that prevent us from
allocating enough memory segments in some cases.

These limits appear to be due to the way the wrapper itself is
implemented and not mach.

For example when running a test suite that spins up many postgres
instances I commonly see this issue:
DETAIL:  Failed system call was shmget(key=5432002, size=56, 03600).

In order to avoid hitting these limits we can bypass the wrapper layer
and just use mach directly.

This is roughly how all major browsers seem to implement shared memory
support on OSX.

This still needs a lot of cleanup but seems to compile and basic tests
seem to pass.
---
 configure                     |  15 +-
 configure.ac                  |  11 +-
 src/backend/port/mach_shmem.c | 797 ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
 src/include/pg_config.h.in    |   3 +
 src/include/postgres.h        |  14 +
 5 files changed, 831 insertions(+), 9 deletions(-)
 create mode 100644 src/backend/port/mach_shmem.c

diff --git a/configure b/configure
index dd64692345..5a2eb14dea 100755
--- a/configure
+++ b/configure
@@ -18043,16 +18043,21 @@ fi
 
 
 # Select shared-memory implementation type.
-if test "$PORTNAME" != "win32"; then
+if test "$PORTNAME" = "win32"; then
 
-$as_echo "#define USE_SYSV_SHARED_MEMORY 1" >>confdefs.h
+$as_echo "#define USE_WIN32_SHARED_MEMORY 1" >>confdefs.h
 
-  SHMEM_IMPLEMENTATION="src/backend/port/sysv_shmem.c"
+  SHMEM_IMPLEMENTATION="src/backend/port/win32_shmem.c"
+elif test "$PORTNAME" = "darwin"; then
+
+$as_echo "#define USE_MACH_SHARED_MEMORY 1" >>confdefs.h
+
+  SHMEM_IMPLEMENTATION="src/backend/port/mach_shmem.c"
 else
 
-$as_echo "#define USE_WIN32_SHARED_MEMORY 1" >>confdefs.h
+$as_echo "#define USE_SYSV_SHARED_MEMORY 1" >>confdefs.h
 
-  SHMEM_IMPLEMENTATION="src/backend/port/win32_shmem.c"
+  SHMEM_IMPLEMENTATION="src/backend/port/sysv_shmem.c"
 fi
 
 # Select random number source. If a TLS library is used then it will be the
diff --git a/configure.ac b/configure.ac
index 748fb50236..1bbcd5dc78 100644
--- a/configure.ac
+++ b/configure.ac
@@ -2144,12 +2144,15 @@ fi
 
 
 # Select shared-memory implementation type.
-if test "$PORTNAME" != "win32"; then
-  AC_DEFINE(USE_SYSV_SHARED_MEMORY, 1, [Define to select SysV-style shared memory.])
-  SHMEM_IMPLEMENTATION="src/backend/port/sysv_shmem.c"
-else
+if test "$PORTNAME" = "win32"; then
   AC_DEFINE(USE_WIN32_SHARED_MEMORY, 1, [Define to select Win32-style shared memory.])
   SHMEM_IMPLEMENTATION="src/backend/port/win32_shmem.c"
+elif test "$PORTNAME" = "darwin"; then
+  AC_DEFINE(USE_MACH_SHARED_MEMORY, 1, [Define to select Mach-style shared memory.])
+  SHMEM_IMPLEMENTATION="src/backend/port/mach_shmem.c"
+else
+  AC_DEFINE(USE_SYSV_SHARED_MEMORY, 1, [Define to select SysV-style shared memory.])
+  SHMEM_IMPLEMENTATION="src/backend/port/sysv_shmem.c"
 fi
 
 # Select random number source. If a TLS library is used then it will be the
diff --git a/src/backend/port/mach_shmem.c b/src/backend/port/mach_shmem.c
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..2fe42ed770
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/backend/port/mach_shmem.c
@@ -0,0 +1,797 @@
+/*-------------------------------------------------------------------------
+ *
+ * mach_shmem.c
+ *      Implement shared memory using mach facilities
+ *
+ * These routines used to be a fairly thin layer on top of mach shared
+ * memory functionality.  With the addition of anonymous-shmem logic,
+ * they're a bit fatter now.  We still require a mach shmem block to
+ * exist, though, because mmap'd shmem provides no way to find out how
+ * many processes are attached, which we need for interlocking purposes.
+ *
+ * Portions Copyright (c) 1996-2020, PostgreSQL Global Development Group
+ * Portions Copyright (c) 1994, Regents of the University of California
+ *
+ * IDENTIFICATION
+ *      src/backend/port/mach_shmem.c
+ *
+ *-------------------------------------------------------------------------
+ */
+#include "postgres.h"
+
+#include <unistd.h>
+#include <sys/mman.h>
+#include <sys/stat.h>
+#ifdef HAVE_SYS_IPC_H
+#include <sys/ipc.h>
+#endif
+
+#include "miscadmin.h"
+#include "portability/mem.h"
+#include "storage/dsm.h"
+#include "storage/ipc.h"
+#include "storage/pg_shmem.h"
+#include "utils/pidfile.h"
+
+#include <mach/port.h>
+#include <mach/mach.h>
+#include <mach/mach_vm.h>
+
+
+/*
+ * As of PostgreSQL 9.3, we normally allocate only a very small amount of
+ * System V shared memory, and only for the purposes of providing an
+ * interlock to protect the data directory.  The real shared memory block
+ * is allocated using mmap().  This works around the problem that many
+ * systems have very low limits on the amount of System V shared memory
+ * that can be allocated.  Even a limit of a few megabytes will be enough
+ * to run many copies of PostgreSQL without needing to adjust system settings.
+ *
+ * We assume that no one will attempt to run PostgreSQL 9.3 or later on
+ * systems that are ancient enough that anonymous shared memory is not
+ * supported, such as pre-2.4 versions of Linux.  If that turns out to be
+ * false, we might need to add compile and/or run-time tests here and do this
+ * only if the running kernel supports it.
+ *
+ * However, we must always disable this logic in the EXEC_BACKEND case, and
+ * fall back to the old method of allocating the entire segment using System V
+ * shared memory, because there's no way to attach an anonymous mmap'd segment
+ * to a process after exec().  Since EXEC_BACKEND is intended only for
+ * developer use, this shouldn't be a big problem.  Because of this, we do
+ * not worry about supporting anonymous shmem in the EXEC_BACKEND cases below.
+ *
+ * As of PostgreSQL 12, we regained the ability to use a large System V shared
+ * memory region even in non-EXEC_BACKEND builds, if shared_memory_type is set
+ * to sysv (though this is not the default).
+ */
+
+
+typedef key_t IpcMemoryKey;        /* shared memory key passed to shmget(2) */
+typedef int IpcMemoryId;        /* shared memory ID returned by shmget(2) */
+
+/*
+ * How does a given IpcMemoryId relate to this PostgreSQL process?
+ *
+ * One could recycle unattached segments of different data directories if we
+ * distinguished that case from other SHMSTATE_FOREIGN cases.  Doing so would
+ * cause us to visit less of the key space, making us less likely to detect a
+ * SHMSTATE_ATTACHED key.  It would also complicate the concurrency analysis,
+ * in that postmasters of different data directories could simultaneously
+ * attempt to recycle a given key.  We'll waste keys longer in some cases, but
+ * avoiding the problems of the alternative justifies that loss.
+ */
+typedef enum
+{
+    SHMSTATE_ANALYSIS_FAILURE,    /* unexpected failure to analyze the ID */
+    SHMSTATE_ATTACHED,            /* pertinent to DataDir, has attached PIDs */
+    SHMSTATE_ENOENT,            /* no segment of that ID */
+    SHMSTATE_FOREIGN,            /* exists, but not pertinent to DataDir */
+    SHMSTATE_UNATTACHED            /* pertinent to DataDir, no attached PIDs */
+} IpcMemoryState;
+
+
+unsigned long UsedShmemSegID = 0;
+void       *UsedShmemSegAddr = NULL;
+
+static Size AnonymousShmemSize;
+static void *AnonymousShmem = NULL;
+memory_object_size_t mo_size = 0;
+
+static void *InternalIpcMemoryCreate(IpcMemoryKey memKey, Size size);
+static void IpcMemoryDetach(int status, Datum shmaddr);
+static void IpcMemoryDelete(int status, Datum shmId);
+static IpcMemoryState PGSharedMemoryAttach(IpcMemoryId shmId,
+                                        void *attachAt,
+                                        PGShmemHeader **addr);
+
+
+/*
+ *    InternalIpcMemoryCreate(memKey, size)
+ *
+ * Attempt to create a new shared memory segment with the specified key.
+ * Will fail (return NULL) if such a segment already exists.  If successful,
+ * attach the segment to the current process and return its attached address.
+ * On success, callbacks are registered with on_shmem_exit to detach and
+ * delete the segment when on_shmem_exit is called.
+ *
+ * If we fail with a failure code other than collision-with-existing-segment,
+ * print out an error and abort.  Other types of errors are not recoverable.
+ */
+static void *
+InternalIpcMemoryCreate(IpcMemoryKey memKey, Size size)
+{
+    mem_entry_name_port_t MachPort = MACH_PORT_NULL;
+    kern_return_t kr;
+    mach_vm_address_t requestedAddress;
+    void       *memAddress;
+    mo_size = round_page(size);
+
+    /*
+     * Normally we just pass requestedAddress = NULL to shmat(), allowing the
+     * system to choose where the segment gets mapped.  But in an EXEC_BACKEND
+     * build, it's possible for whatever is chosen in the postmaster to not
+     * work for backends, due to variations in address space layout.  As a
+     * rather klugy workaround, allow the user to specify the address to use
+     * via setting the environment variable PG_SHMEM_ADDR.  (If this were of
+     * interest for anything except debugging, we'd probably create a cleaner
+     * and better-documented way to set it, such as a GUC.)
+     */
+#ifdef EXEC_BACKEND
+    {
+        char       *pg_shmem_addr = getenv("PG_SHMEM_ADDR");
+
+        if (pg_shmem_addr)
+            requestedAddress = (void *) strtoul(pg_shmem_addr, NULL, 0);
+    }
+#endif
+
+    /* OK, should be able to attach to the segment */
+    kr = mach_make_memory_entry_64(mach_task_self(),
+                                   &mo_size,
+                                   memKey,
+                                   MAP_MEM_NAMED_CREATE | VM_PROT_DEFAULT,
+                                   &MachPort,
+                                   MACH_PORT_NULL);
+
+    /* Register on-exit routine to delete the new segment */
+    on_shmem_exit(IpcMemoryDelete, Int32GetDatum(MachPort));
+
+    if (kr != KERN_SUCCESS)
+        elog(FATAL,
+             "mach_make_memory_entry_64("
+             "target_task=%d, "
+             "size=%llu, "
+             "offset=%d, "
+             "permission=0x%x, "
+             "object_handle=%d, "
+             "parent_entry=%d) failed: "
+             "%d",
+             mach_task_self(),
+             mo_size,
+             memKey,
+             MAP_MEM_NAMED_CREATE | VM_PROT_DEFAULT,
+             MachPort,
+             MACH_PORT_NULL,
+             kr);
+
+    kr = mach_vm_map(mach_task_self(),
+                     &requestedAddress,
+                     mo_size,
+                     0,
+                     VM_FLAGS_ANYWHERE,
+                     MachPort,
+                     0,
+                     FALSE,
+                     VM_PROT_DEFAULT,
+                     VM_PROT_DEFAULT,
+                     VM_INHERIT_NONE);
+
+    if (kr != KERN_SUCCESS)
+        elog(FATAL,
+             "mach_vm_map("
+             "target_task=%d, "
+             "address=%p, "
+             "size=%llu, "
+             "mask=%d, "
+             "flags=0x%x, "
+             "object=%d, "
+             "offset=%d, "
+             "copy=%d, "
+             "cur_protection=0x%x, "
+             "max_protection=0x%x, "
+             "inheritance=0x%x) failed: "
+             "%d",
+             mach_task_self(),
+             &requestedAddress,
+             mo_size,
+             0,
+             VM_FLAGS_ANYWHERE,
+             MachPort,
+             0,
+             FALSE,
+             VM_PROT_DEFAULT,
+             VM_PROT_DEFAULT,
+             VM_INHERIT_NONE,
+             kr);
+    memAddress = (void *)requestedAddress;
+
+    /* Register on-exit routine to detach new segment before deleting */
+    on_shmem_exit(IpcMemoryDetach, AddressGetDatum(requestedAddress));
+
+    /*
+     * Store shmem key and ID in data directory lockfile.  Format to try to
+     * keep it the same length always (trailing junk in the lockfile won't
+     * hurt, but might confuse humans).
+     */
+    {
+        char        line[64];
+
+        sprintf(line, "%9lu %9lu",
+                (unsigned long) memKey, (unsigned long) MachPort);
+        AddToDataDirLockFile(LOCK_FILE_LINE_SHMEM_KEY, line);
+    }
+
+    return memAddress;
+}
+
+/****************************************************************************/
+/*    IpcMemoryDetach(status, shmaddr)    removes a shared memory segment        */
+/*                                        from process' address space            */
+/*    (called as an on_shmem_exit callback, hence funny argument list)        */
+/****************************************************************************/
+static void
+IpcMemoryDetach(int status, Datum shmaddr)
+{
+    /* Detach System V shared memory block. */
+    kern_return_t kr = mach_vm_deallocate(mach_task_self(), *DatumGetAddress(shmaddr), mo_size);
+    if (kr != KERN_SUCCESS)
+        elog(LOG, "mach_vm_deallocate(target=%d, address=%p, size=%llu) failed: %d",
+             mach_task_self(), DatumGetAddress(shmaddr), mo_size, kr);
+}
+
+/****************************************************************************/
+/*    IpcMemoryDelete(status, shmId)        deletes a shared memory segment        */
+/*    (called as an on_shmem_exit callback, hence funny argument list)        */
+/****************************************************************************/
+static void
+IpcMemoryDelete(int status, Datum shmId)
+{
+    kern_return_t kr = mach_port_deallocate(mach_task_self(), DatumGetInt32(shmId));
+    if (kr != KERN_SUCCESS)
+        elog(FATAL, "mach_port_deallocate(task=%d, name=%d) failed: %d",
+             mach_task_self(), DatumGetInt32(shmId), kr);
+}
+
+/*
+ * PGSharedMemoryIsInUse
+ *
+ * Is a previously-existing shmem segment still existing and in use?
+ *
+ * The point of this exercise is to detect the case where a prior postmaster
+ * crashed, but it left child backends that are still running.  Therefore
+ * we only care about shmem segments that are associated with the intended
+ * DataDir.  This is an important consideration since accidental matches of
+ * shmem segment IDs are reasonably common.
+ */
+bool
+PGSharedMemoryIsInUse(unsigned long id1, unsigned long id2)
+{
+    kern_return_t kr;
+    mach_msg_type_number_t pCount = VM_PAGE_INFO_BASIC_COUNT;
+    vm_page_info_basic_data_t pInfo;
+
+    kr = mach_vm_page_info(mach_task_self(), id2, VM_PAGE_INFO_BASIC, (vm_page_info_t)&pInfo, &pCount);
+    if (kr != KERN_SUCCESS)
+        elog(LOG, "mach_vm_map(target_task=%d, address=%lu, flavor=0x%x, info=%p, infoCnt=%d) failed: %d",
+             mach_task_self(), id2, VM_PAGE_INFO_BASIC, &pInfo, pCount, kr);
+
+    if (pInfo.disposition & (VM_PAGE_QUERY_PAGE_PRESENT | VM_PAGE_QUERY_PAGE_REF | VM_PAGE_QUERY_PAGE_DIRTY))
+        return true;
+    return false;
+}
+
+/*
+ * Test for a segment with id shmId; see comment at IpcMemoryState.
+ *
+ * If the segment exists, we'll attempt to attach to it, using attachAt
+ * if that's not NULL (but it's best to pass NULL if possible).
+ *
+ * *addr is set to the segment memory address if we attached to it, else NULL.
+ */
+static IpcMemoryState
+PGSharedMemoryAttach(IpcMemoryId shmId,
+                     void *attachAt,
+                     PGShmemHeader **addr)
+{
+    mem_entry_name_port_t MachPort;
+    kern_return_t kr;
+    struct stat statbuf;
+    PGShmemHeader *hdr;
+
+    *addr = NULL;
+
+    /*
+     * First, try to stat the shm segment ID, to see if it exists at all.
+     */
+    mach_msg_type_number_t pCount = VM_PAGE_INFO_BASIC_COUNT;
+    vm_page_info_basic_data_t pInfo;
+    kr = mach_vm_page_info(mach_task_self(), shmId, VM_PAGE_INFO_BASIC, (vm_page_info_t)&pInfo, &pCount);
+    if (kr != KERN_SUCCESS)
+        elog(LOG, "mach_vm_page_info(target_task=%d, address=%d, flavor=0x%x, info=%p, infoCnt=%d) failed: %d",
+             mach_task_self(), shmId, VM_PAGE_INFO_BASIC, &pInfo, pCount, kr);
+
+    if (pInfo.disposition & (VM_PAGE_QUERY_PAGE_PRESENT | VM_PAGE_QUERY_PAGE_REF | VM_PAGE_QUERY_PAGE_DIRTY))
+        return SHMSTATE_ATTACHED;
+
+    if (kr != KERN_SUCCESS)
+    {
+        /*
+         * EINVAL actually has multiple possible causes documented in the
+         * shmctl man page, but we assume it must mean the segment no longer
+         * exists.
+         */
+        if (kr == KERN_INVALID_ADDRESS)
+            return SHMSTATE_ENOENT;
+
+        /*
+         * EACCES implies we have no read permission, which means it is not a
+         * Postgres shmem segment (or at least, not one that is relevant to
+         * our data directory).
+         */
+        if (kr == KERN_PROTECTION_FAILURE)
+            return SHMSTATE_FOREIGN;
+
+        /*
+         * Some Linux kernel versions (in fact, all of them as of July 2007)
+         * sometimes return EIDRM when EINVAL is correct.  The Linux kernel
+         * actually does not have any internal state that would justify
+         * returning EIDRM, so we can get away with assuming that EIDRM is
+         * equivalent to EINVAL on that platform.
+         */
+
+        /*
+         * Otherwise, we had better assume that the segment is in use.  The
+         * only likely case is (non-Linux, assumed spec-compliant) EIDRM,
+         * which implies that the segment has been IPC_RMID'd but there are
+         * still processes attached to it.
+         */
+        return SHMSTATE_ANALYSIS_FAILURE;
+    }
+
+    /*
+     * Try to attach to the segment and see if it matches our data directory.
+     * This avoids any risk of duplicate-shmem-key conflicts on machines that
+     * are running several postmasters under the same userid.
+     *
+     * (When we're called from PGSharedMemoryCreate, this stat call is
+     * duplicative; but since this isn't a high-traffic case it's not worth
+     * trying to optimize.)
+     */
+    if (stat(DataDir, &statbuf) < 0)
+        return SHMSTATE_ANALYSIS_FAILURE;    /* can't stat; be conservative */
+
+    MachPort = DatumGetInt32(shmId);
+    kr = mach_vm_map(mach_task_self(),
+                     attachAt,
+                     mo_size,
+                     0,
+                     VM_FLAGS_ANYWHERE,
+                     MachPort,
+                     0,
+                     FALSE,
+                     VM_PROT_DEFAULT,
+                     VM_PROT_DEFAULT,
+                     VM_INHERIT_NONE);
+
+    if (kr != KERN_SUCCESS)
+    {
+        /*
+         * Attachment failed.  The cases we're interested in are the same as
+         * for the shmctl() call above.  In particular, note that the owning
+         * postmaster could have terminated and removed the segment between
+         * shmctl() and shmat().
+         *
+         * If attachAt isn't NULL, it's possible that EINVAL reflects a
+         * problem with that address not a vanished segment, so it's best to
+         * pass NULL when probing for conflicting segments.
+         */
+        elog(LOG,
+             "mach_vm_map("
+             "target_task=%d, "
+             "address=%p, "
+             "size=%llu, "
+             "mask=%d, "
+             "flags=0x%x, "
+             "object=%d, "
+             "offset=%d, "
+             "copy=%d, "
+             "cur_protection=0x%x, "
+             "max_protection=0x%x, "
+             "inheritance=0x%x) failed: "
+             "%d",
+             mach_task_self(),
+             attachAt,
+             (mach_vm_size_t)sizeof(PGShmemHeader),
+             0,
+             VM_FLAGS_ANYWHERE,
+             MachPort,
+             0,
+             FALSE,
+             VM_PROT_DEFAULT,
+             VM_PROT_DEFAULT,
+             VM_INHERIT_NONE,
+             kr);
+
+        if (kr == KERN_INVALID_ADDRESS)
+            return SHMSTATE_ENOENT; /* segment disappeared */
+        if (errno == KERN_PROTECTION_FAILURE)
+            return SHMSTATE_FOREIGN;    /* must be non-Postgres */
+        /* Otherwise, be conservative. */
+        return SHMSTATE_ANALYSIS_FAILURE;
+    }
+    hdr = (void *)attachAt;
+    *addr = hdr;
+
+    if (hdr->magic != PGShmemMagic ||
+        hdr->device != statbuf.st_dev ||
+        hdr->inode != statbuf.st_ino)
+    {
+        /*
+         * It's either not a Postgres segment, or not one for my data
+         * directory.
+         */
+        return SHMSTATE_FOREIGN;
+    }
+
+    /*
+     * It does match our data directory, so now test whether any processes are
+     * still attached to it.  (We are, now, but the shm_nattch result is from
+     * before we attached to it.)
+     */
+    return pInfo.ref_count == 0 ? SHMSTATE_UNATTACHED : SHMSTATE_ATTACHED;
+}
+
+/*
+ * Creates an anonymous mmap()ed shared memory segment.
+ *
+ * Pass the requested size in *size.  This function will modify *size to the
+ * actual size of the allocation, if it ends up allocating a segment that is
+ * larger than requested.
+ */
+static void *
+CreateAnonymousSegment(Size *size)
+{
+    Size        allocsize = *size;
+    void       *ptr = MAP_FAILED;
+    int            mmap_errno = 0;
+
+    if (ptr == MAP_FAILED && huge_pages != HUGE_PAGES_ON)
+    {
+        /*
+         * Use the original size, not the rounded-up value, when falling back
+         * to non-huge pages.
+         */
+        allocsize = *size;
+        ptr = mmap(NULL, allocsize, PROT_READ | PROT_WRITE,
+                   PG_MMAP_FLAGS, -1, 0);
+        mmap_errno = errno;
+    }
+
+    if (ptr == MAP_FAILED)
+    {
+        errno = mmap_errno;
+        ereport(FATAL,
+                (errmsg("could not map anonymous shared memory: %m"),
+                 (mmap_errno == ENOMEM) ?
+                 errhint("This error usually means that PostgreSQL's request "
+                         "for a shared memory segment exceeded available memory, "
+                         "swap space, or huge pages. To reduce the request size "
+                         "(currently %zu bytes), reduce PostgreSQL's shared "
+                         "memory usage, perhaps by reducing shared_buffers or "
+                         "max_connections.",
+                         allocsize) : 0));
+    }
+
+    *size = allocsize;
+    return ptr;
+}
+
+/*
+ * AnonymousShmemDetach --- detach from an anonymous mmap'd block
+ * (called as an on_shmem_exit callback, hence funny argument list)
+ */
+static void
+AnonymousShmemDetach(int status, Datum arg)
+{
+    /* Release anonymous shared memory block, if any. */
+    if (AnonymousShmem != NULL)
+    {
+        if (munmap(AnonymousShmem, AnonymousShmemSize) < 0)
+            elog(LOG, "munmap(%p, %zu) failed: %m",
+                 AnonymousShmem, AnonymousShmemSize);
+        AnonymousShmem = NULL;
+    }
+}
+
+/*
+ * PGSharedMemoryCreate
+ *
+ * Create a shared memory segment of the given size and initialize its
+ * standard header.  Also, register an on_shmem_exit callback to release
+ * the storage.
+ *
+ * Dead Postgres segments pertinent to this DataDir are recycled if found, but
+ * we do not fail upon collision with foreign shmem segments.  The idea here
+ * is to detect and re-use keys that may have been assigned by a crashed
+ * postmaster or backend.
+ */
+PGShmemHeader *
+PGSharedMemoryCreate(Size size,
+                     PGShmemHeader **shim)
+{
+    kern_return_t kr;
+    IpcMemoryKey NextShmemSegID;
+    mach_vm_address_t *memAddress;
+    PGShmemHeader *hdr;
+    struct stat statbuf;
+    Size        sysvsize;
+
+    /*
+     * We use the data directory's ID info (inode and device numbers) to
+     * positively identify shmem segments associated with this data dir, and
+     * also as seeds for searching for a free shmem key.
+     */
+    if (stat(DataDir, &statbuf) < 0)
+        ereport(FATAL,
+                (errcode_for_file_access(),
+                 errmsg("could not stat data directory \"%s\": %m",
+                        DataDir)));
+
+    /* Room for a header? */
+    Assert(size > MAXALIGN(sizeof(PGShmemHeader)));
+
+    if (shared_memory_type == SHMEM_TYPE_MMAP)
+    {
+        AnonymousShmem = CreateAnonymousSegment(&size);
+        AnonymousShmemSize = size;
+
+        /* Register on-exit routine to unmap the anonymous segment */
+        on_shmem_exit(AnonymousShmemDetach, (Datum) 0);
+
+        /* Now we need only allocate a minimal-sized SysV shmem block. */
+        sysvsize = sizeof(PGShmemHeader);
+    }
+    else
+        sysvsize = size;
+
+    /*
+     * Loop till we find a free IPC key.  Trust CreateDataDirLockFile() to
+     * ensure no more than one postmaster per data directory can enter this
+     * loop simultaneously.  (CreateDataDirLockFile() does not entirely ensure
+     * that, but prefer fixing it over coping here.)
+     */
+    NextShmemSegID = statbuf.st_ino;
+
+    for (;;)
+    {
+        PGShmemHeader *oldhdr;
+        IpcMemoryState state;
+
+        /* Try to create new segment */
+        memAddress = InternalIpcMemoryCreate(NextShmemSegID, sysvsize);
+        if (memAddress)
+            break;                /* successful create and attach */
+
+        /* Check shared memory and possibly remove and recreate */
+
+        /*
+         * shmget() failure is typically EACCES, hence SHMSTATE_FOREIGN.
+         * ENOENT, a narrow possibility, implies SHMSTATE_ENOENT, but one can
+         * safely treat SHMSTATE_ENOENT like SHMSTATE_FOREIGN.
+         */
+        mach_msg_type_number_t pCount = VM_PAGE_INFO_BASIC_COUNT;
+        vm_page_info_basic_data_t pInfo;
+        kr = mach_vm_page_info(mach_task_self(), *memAddress, VM_PAGE_INFO_BASIC, (vm_page_info_t)&pInfo, &pCount);
+        if (kr != KERN_SUCCESS)
+            elog(LOG, "mach_vm_page_info(target_task=%d, address=%d, flavor=0x%x, info=%p, infoCnt=%d) failed: %d",
+                 mach_task_self(), NextShmemSegID, VM_PAGE_INFO_BASIC, &pInfo, pCount, kr);
+
+        if (kr != KERN_SUCCESS)
+        {
+            oldhdr = NULL;
+            state = SHMSTATE_FOREIGN;
+        }
+        else
+            state = PGSharedMemoryAttach(pInfo.object_id, NULL, &oldhdr);
+
+        switch (state)
+        {
+            case SHMSTATE_ANALYSIS_FAILURE:
+            case SHMSTATE_ATTACHED:
+                ereport(FATAL,
+                    (errcode(ERRCODE_LOCK_FILE_EXISTS),
+                     errmsg("pre-existing shared memory block (key %lu, ID %lu) is still in use",
+                        (unsigned long) NextShmemSegID,
+                        (unsigned long) pInfo.object_id),
+                     errhint("Terminate any old server processes associated with data directory \"%s\".",
+                        DataDir)));
+                break;
+            case SHMSTATE_ENOENT:
+
+                /*
+                 * To our surprise, some other process deleted since our last
+                 * InternalIpcMemoryCreate().  Moments earlier, we would have
+                 * seen SHMSTATE_FOREIGN.  Try that same ID again.
+                 */
+                elog(LOG,
+                     "shared memory block (key %lu, ID %lu) deleted during startup",
+                     (unsigned long) NextShmemSegID,
+                     (unsigned long) pInfo.object_id);
+                break;
+            case SHMSTATE_FOREIGN:
+                NextShmemSegID++;
+                break;
+            case SHMSTATE_UNATTACHED:
+
+                /*
+                 * The segment pertains to DataDir, and every process that had
+                 * used it has died or detached.  Zap it, if possible, and any
+                 * associated dynamic shared memory segments, as well.  This
+                 * shouldn't fail, but if it does, assume the segment belongs
+                 * to someone else after all, and try the next candidate.
+                 * Otherwise, try again to create the segment.  That may fail
+                 * if some other process creates the same shmem key before we
+                 * do, in which case we'll try the next key.
+                 */
+                if (oldhdr->dsm_control != 0)
+                    dsm_cleanup_using_control_segment(oldhdr->dsm_control);
+                if (mach_port_deallocate(mach_task_self(), pInfo.object_id) != KERN_SUCCESS)
+                    NextShmemSegID++;
+                break;
+        }
+
+        if (oldhdr) {
+            kr = mach_vm_deallocate(mach_task_self(), (mach_vm_address_t)oldhdr, mo_size);
+            if (kr != KERN_SUCCESS)
+                elog(LOG, "mach_vm_deallocate(target=%d, address=%p, size=%llu) failed: %d",
+                     mach_task_self(), oldhdr, mo_size, kr);
+        }
+    }
+
+    /* Initialize new segment. */
+    hdr = (PGShmemHeader *) memAddress;
+    hdr->creatorPID = getpid();
+    hdr->magic = PGShmemMagic;
+    hdr->dsm_control = 0;
+
+    /* Fill in the data directory ID info, too */
+    hdr->device = statbuf.st_dev;
+    hdr->inode = statbuf.st_ino;
+
+    /*
+     * Initialize space allocation status for segment.
+     */
+    hdr->totalsize = size;
+    hdr->freeoffset = MAXALIGN(sizeof(PGShmemHeader));
+    *shim = hdr;
+
+    /* Save info for possible future use */
+    UsedShmemSegAddr = memAddress;
+    UsedShmemSegID = (unsigned long) NextShmemSegID;
+
+    /*
+     * If AnonymousShmem is NULL here, then we're not using anonymous shared
+     * memory, and should return a pointer to the System V shared memory
+     * block. Otherwise, the System V shared memory block is only a shim, and
+     * we must return a pointer to the real block.
+     */
+    if (AnonymousShmem == NULL)
+        return hdr;
+    memcpy(AnonymousShmem, hdr, sizeof(PGShmemHeader));
+    return (PGShmemHeader *) AnonymousShmem;
+}
+
+#ifdef EXEC_BACKEND
+
+/*
+ * PGSharedMemoryReAttach
+ *
+ * This is called during startup of a postmaster child process to re-attach to
+ * an already existing shared memory segment.  This is needed only in the
+ * EXEC_BACKEND case; otherwise postmaster children inherit the shared memory
+ * segment attachment via fork().
+ *
+ * UsedShmemSegID and UsedShmemSegAddr are implicit parameters to this
+ * routine.  The caller must have already restored them to the postmaster's
+ * values.
+ */
+void
+PGSharedMemoryReAttach(void)
+{
+    IpcMemoryId shmid;
+    PGShmemHeader *hdr;
+    IpcMemoryState state;
+    void       *origUsedShmemSegAddr = UsedShmemSegAddr;
+
+    Assert(UsedShmemSegAddr != NULL);
+    Assert(IsUnderPostmaster);
+
+    elog(DEBUG3, "attaching to %p", UsedShmemSegAddr);
+    shmid = shmget(UsedShmemSegID, sizeof(PGShmemHeader), 0);
+    if (shmid < 0)
+        state = SHMSTATE_FOREIGN;
+    else
+        state = PGSharedMemoryAttach(shmid, UsedShmemSegAddr, &hdr);
+    if (state != SHMSTATE_ATTACHED)
+        elog(FATAL, "could not reattach to shared memory (key=%d, addr=%p): %m",
+             (int) UsedShmemSegID, UsedShmemSegAddr);
+    if (hdr != origUsedShmemSegAddr)
+        elog(FATAL, "reattaching to shared memory returned unexpected address (got %p, expected %p)",
+             hdr, origUsedShmemSegAddr);
+    dsm_set_control_handle(hdr->dsm_control);
+
+    UsedShmemSegAddr = hdr;        /* probably redundant */
+}
+
+/*
+ * PGSharedMemoryNoReAttach
+ *
+ * This is called during startup of a postmaster child process when we choose
+ * *not* to re-attach to the existing shared memory segment.  We must clean up
+ * to leave things in the appropriate state.  This is not used in the non
+ * EXEC_BACKEND case, either.
+ *
+ * The child process startup logic might or might not call PGSharedMemoryDetach
+ * after this; make sure that it will be a no-op if called.
+ *
+ * UsedShmemSegID and UsedShmemSegAddr are implicit parameters to this
+ * routine.  The caller must have already restored them to the postmaster's
+ * values.
+ */
+void
+PGSharedMemoryNoReAttach(void)
+{
+    Assert(UsedShmemSegAddr != NULL);
+    Assert(IsUnderPostmaster);
+
+    /* For cleanliness, reset UsedShmemSegAddr to show we're not attached. */
+    UsedShmemSegAddr = NULL;
+    /* And the same for UsedShmemSegID. */
+    UsedShmemSegID = 0;
+}
+
+#endif                            /* EXEC_BACKEND */
+
+/*
+ * PGSharedMemoryDetach
+ *
+ * Detach from the shared memory segment, if still attached.  This is not
+ * intended to be called explicitly by the process that originally created the
+ * segment (it will have on_shmem_exit callback(s) registered to do that).
+ * Rather, this is for subprocesses that have inherited an attachment and want
+ * to get rid of it.
+ *
+ * UsedShmemSegID and UsedShmemSegAddr are implicit parameters to this
+ * routine, also AnonymousShmem and AnonymousShmemSize.
+ */
+void
+PGSharedMemoryDetach(void)
+{
+    kern_return_t kr;
+    if (UsedShmemSegAddr != NULL)
+    {
+        kr = mach_vm_deallocate(mach_task_self(), (mach_vm_address_t)UsedShmemSegAddr, mo_size);
+        if (kr != KERN_SUCCESS)
+            elog(LOG, "mach_vm_deallocate(target=%d, address=%p, size=%llu) failed: %d",
+                 mach_task_self(), UsedShmemSegAddr, mo_size, kr);
+        UsedShmemSegAddr = NULL;
+    }
+
+    if (AnonymousShmem != NULL)
+    {
+        if (munmap(AnonymousShmem, AnonymousShmemSize) < 0)
+            elog(LOG, "munmap(%p, %zu) failed: %m",
+                 AnonymousShmem, AnonymousShmemSize);
+        AnonymousShmem = NULL;
+    }
+}
diff --git a/src/include/pg_config.h.in b/src/include/pg_config.h.in
index de8f838e53..5105934d01 100644
--- a/src/include/pg_config.h.in
+++ b/src/include/pg_config.h.in
@@ -878,6 +878,9 @@
 /* Define to 1 to build with LLVM based JIT support. (--with-llvm) */
 #undef USE_LLVM
 
+/* Define to select Mach-style shared memory. */
+#undef USE_MACH_SHARED_MEMORY
+
 /* Define to select named POSIX semaphores. */
 #undef USE_NAMED_POSIX_SEMAPHORES
 
diff --git a/src/include/postgres.h b/src/include/postgres.h
index c48f47e930..8044b3dff3 100644
--- a/src/include/postgres.h
+++ b/src/include/postgres.h
@@ -555,6 +555,20 @@ typedef struct NullableDatum
 
 #define PointerGetDatum(X) ((Datum) (X))
 
+/*
+ * DatumGetAddress
+ *        Returns mach_vm_address_t value of a datum.
+ */
+
+#define DatumGetAddress(X) ((mach_vm_address_t *) DatumGetPointer(X))
+
+/*
+ * AddressGetDatum
+ *        Returns datum representation for a mach_vm_address_t.
+ */
+
+#define AddressGetDatum(X) ((Datum) (X))
+
 /*
  * DatumGetCString
  *        Returns C string (null-terminated string) value of a datum.
-- 
2.29.2




Re: [PATCH 1/1] Initial mach based shared memory support.

From
Tom Lane
Date:
James Hilliard <james.hilliard1@gmail.com> writes:
> OSX implements sysv shmem support via a mach wrapper, however the mach
> sysv shmem wrapper has some severe restrictions that prevent us from
> allocating enough memory segments in some cases.
> ...
> In order to avoid hitting these limits we can bypass the wrapper layer
> and just use mach directly.

I wanted to review this, but it's impossible because the kernel calls
you're using have you've-got-to-be-kidding documentation like this:

https://developer.apple.com/documentation/kernel/1402504-mach_vm_page_info?language=objc

Google finds the source code too, but that's equally bereft of useful
documentation.  So I wonder where you obtained the information necessary
to write this patch.

I did notice however that mach_shmem.c seems to be 95% copy-and-paste from
sysv_shmem.c, including a lot of comments that don't feel particularly
true or relevant here.  I wonder whether we need a separate file as
opposed to a few #ifdef's around the kernel calls.

            regards, tom lane



Re: [PATCH 1/1] Initial mach based shared memory support.

From
James Hilliard
Date:
On Mon, Jan 18, 2021 at 5:29 PM Tom Lane <tgl@sss.pgh.pa.us> wrote:
>
> James Hilliard <james.hilliard1@gmail.com> writes:
> > OSX implements sysv shmem support via a mach wrapper, however the mach
> > sysv shmem wrapper has some severe restrictions that prevent us from
> > allocating enough memory segments in some cases.
> > ...
> > In order to avoid hitting these limits we can bypass the wrapper layer
> > and just use mach directly.
>
> I wanted to review this, but it's impossible because the kernel calls
> you're using have you've-got-to-be-kidding documentation like this:
>
> https://developer.apple.com/documentation/kernel/1402504-mach_vm_page_info?language=objc
Yeah, the documentation situation with Apple tends to be some degree of terrible
in general. Ultimately I was referencing the sysv shmem wrapper code
itself a lot:
https://github.com/apple/darwin-xnu/blob/master/bsd/kern/sysv_shm.c

I also used the browser shmem implementations as references:
https://github.com/chromium/chromium/blob/master/base/memory/platform_shared_memory_region_mac.cc
https://github.com/mozilla/gecko-dev/blob/master/ipc/glue/SharedMemoryBasic_mach.mm
>
> Google finds the source code too, but that's equally bereft of useful
> documentation.  So I wonder where you obtained the information necessary
> to write this patch.
Mostly trial and error while using the above references.
>
> I did notice however that mach_shmem.c seems to be 95% copy-and-paste from
> sysv_shmem.c, including a lot of comments that don't feel particularly
> true or relevant here.  I wonder whether we need a separate file as
> opposed to a few #ifdef's around the kernel calls.
Well I basically started with copying sysv_shmem.c and then started
replacing the sysv
shmem calls with their mach equivalents. I kept it as a separate file
since the mach
calls use different semantics and that's also how the other projects
seem to separate
out their mach shared memory handlers. I left a number of the original
comments since
I wasn't entirely sure what best to replace them with.
>
>                         regards, tom lane



Re: [PATCH 1/1] Initial mach based shared memory support.

From
James Hilliard
Date:
On Mon, Jan 18, 2021 at 5:29 PM Tom Lane <tgl@sss.pgh.pa.us> wrote:
>
> James Hilliard <james.hilliard1@gmail.com> writes:
> > OSX implements sysv shmem support via a mach wrapper, however the mach
> > sysv shmem wrapper has some severe restrictions that prevent us from
> > allocating enough memory segments in some cases.
> > ...
> > In order to avoid hitting these limits we can bypass the wrapper layer
> > and just use mach directly.
>
> I wanted to review this, but it's impossible because the kernel calls
> you're using have you've-got-to-be-kidding documentation like this:
>
> https://developer.apple.com/documentation/kernel/1402504-mach_vm_page_info?language=objc
FYI there's a good chance I'm not using some of these info API's correctly,
from my understanding due to mach semantics a number of the sanity checks
we are doing for sysv shmem are probably unnecessary when using mach
API's due to the mach port task bindings(mach_task_self()) effectively
ensuring our maps are already task bound and won't conflict with other tasks.

The mach vm API for our use case does appear to be superior to the shmem API
on top of not being bound by the sysv wrapper limits due to it being
natively task
bound as opposed to normal sysv shared memory maps which appears to be
system wide global maps and thus requires lots of key conflict checks which
should be entirely unnecessary when using task bound mach vm maps.

For example PGSharedMemoryIsInUse() from my understanding should always
return false for the mach vm version as it is already task scoped.

I'm not 100% sure here as I'm not very familiar with all the ways postgres uses
shared memory however. Is it true that postgresql shared memory is strictly used
by child processes fork()'d from the parent postmaster? If that is the
case I think
as long as we ensure all our map operations are bound to the parent postmaster
mach_task_self() port then we should never conflict with another postmaster's
process tree's memory maps.

I tried to largely copy existing sysv shmem semantics in this first
proof of concept as
I'm largely unfamiliar with postgresql internals but I suspect we can
safely remove
much of the map key conflict checking code entirely.

Here's a few additional references I found which may be helpful.

This one is more oriented for kernel programming, however much of the info is
relevant to the userspace interface as well it would appear:

https://developer.apple.com/library/archive/documentation/Darwin/Conceptual/KernelProgramming/vm/vm.html#//apple_ref/doc/uid/TP30000905-CH210-TPXREF109

This book gives an overview of the mach userspace interface as well, although
I don't think it's a fully complete API reference, but it covers some
of the basic use
cases:
https://flylib.com/books/en/3.126.1.89/1/

Apparently the hurd kernel uses a virtual memory interface that is based on
the mach kernel, and it has more detailed API docs, note that these tend to
not have the "mach_" prefix but appear to largely function the same:
https://www.gnu.org/software/hurd/gnumach-doc/Virtual-Memory-Interface.html

There is additional documentation from the OSFMK kernel(which was combined with
XNU by apple from my understanding) here related to the virtual memory
interface,
like the herd docs these tend to not have the "mach_" prefix:
http://web.mit.edu/darwin/src/modules/xnu/osfmk/man/
>
> Google finds the source code too, but that's equally bereft of useful
> documentation.  So I wonder where you obtained the information necessary
> to write this patch.
>
> I did notice however that mach_shmem.c seems to be 95% copy-and-paste from
> sysv_shmem.c, including a lot of comments that don't feel particularly
> true or relevant here.  I wonder whether we need a separate file as
> opposed to a few #ifdef's around the kernel calls.
>
>                         regards, tom lane



Re: [PATCH 1/1] Initial mach based shared memory support.

From
Tom Lane
Date:
James Hilliard <james.hilliard1@gmail.com> writes:
> from my understanding due to mach semantics a number of the sanity checks
> we are doing for sysv shmem are probably unnecessary when using mach
> API's due to the mach port task bindings(mach_task_self()) effectively
> ensuring our maps are already task bound and won't conflict with other tasks.

Really?  If so, this whole patch is pretty much dead in the water,
because the fact that sysv shmem is globally accessible is exactly
why we use it (well, that and the fact that you can find out how many
processes are attached to it).  It's been a long time since we cared
about sysv shmem as a source of shared storage.  What we really use
it for is as a form of mutual exclusion, i.e. being able to detect
whether any live children remain from a dead postmaster.  That is,
PGSharedMemoryIsInUse is not some minor ancillary check, it's the main
reason this module exists at all.  If POSIX-style mmap'd shmem had the
same capability we'd likely have dropped sysv altogether long ago.

I've occasionally wondered if we should take another look at file locking
as a mechanism for ensuring only one postmaster+children process group
can access a data directory.  Back in the day it was too untrustworthy,
but maybe that has changed.

            regards, tom lane



Re: [PATCH 1/1] Initial mach based shared memory support.

From
James Hilliard
Date:
On Mon, Jan 18, 2021 at 11:12 PM Tom Lane <tgl@sss.pgh.pa.us> wrote:
>
> James Hilliard <james.hilliard1@gmail.com> writes:
> > from my understanding due to mach semantics a number of the sanity checks
> > we are doing for sysv shmem are probably unnecessary when using mach
> > API's due to the mach port task bindings(mach_task_self()) effectively
> > ensuring our maps are already task bound and won't conflict with other tasks.
>
> Really?  If so, this whole patch is pretty much dead in the water,
> because the fact that sysv shmem is globally accessible is exactly
> why we use it (well, that and the fact that you can find out how many
> processes are attached to it).  It's been a long time since we cared
> about sysv shmem as a source of shared storage.  What we really use
> it for is as a form of mutual exclusion, i.e. being able to detect
> whether any live children remain from a dead postmaster.  That is,
> PGSharedMemoryIsInUse is not some minor ancillary check, it's the main
> reason this module exists at all.  If POSIX-style mmap'd shmem had the
> same capability we'd likely have dropped sysv altogether long ago.
Oh, I had figured the mutual exclusion check was just to ensure that
one didn't accidentally overlap an existing shared memory map.

If it's just an additional sanity check maybe we should make it non-fatal for
ENOSPC returns as it is impossible to increase the sysv shm segment limits
on OSX from my understanding.

But there should be a way to do this with mach, I see a few options, the task
bound map behavior from my understanding is what you get when using
mach_task_self(), however you can also look up a task using pid_for_task()
from my understanding(there may be security checks here that could cause
issues). It also may make sense to write the postmaster task ID and use that
instead of the PID. I'll try and rework this.

By the way is PGSharedMemoryIsInUse only using the pid(id2) for looking up
the shmem segment key or is something else needed? I noticed there is an
unused id1 variable as well that gets passed to it.
>
> I've occasionally wondered if we should take another look at file locking
> as a mechanism for ensuring only one postmaster+children process group
> can access a data directory.  Back in the day it was too untrustworthy,
> but maybe that has changed.
Yeah, there's probably some ugly edge cases there still.
>
>                         regards, tom lane



Re: [PATCH 1/1] Initial mach based shared memory support.

From
Peter Eisentraut
Date:
On 2020-11-22 09:19, James Hilliard wrote:
> OSX implements sysv shmem support via a mach wrapper, however the mach
> sysv shmem wrapper has some severe restrictions that prevent us from
> allocating enough memory segments in some cases.
> 
> These limits appear to be due to the way the wrapper itself is
> implemented and not mach.
> 
> For example when running a test suite that spins up many postgres
> instances I commonly see this issue:
> DETAIL:  Failed system call was shmget(key=5432002, size=56, 03600).

This is the first I've heard in years of shared memory limits being a 
problem on macOS.  What settings or what levels of concurrency do you 
use to provoke these errors?




Re: [PATCH 1/1] Initial mach based shared memory support.

From
Tom Lane
Date:
Peter Eisentraut <peter.eisentraut@enterprisedb.com> writes:
> This is the first I've heard in years of shared memory limits being a 
> problem on macOS.  What settings or what levels of concurrency do you 
> use to provoke these errors?

I suppose it wouldn't be too hard to run into shmmni with aggressive
parallel testing; the default is just 32.  But AFAIK it still works
to set the shm limits via /etc/sysctl.conf.  (I wonder if you have
to disable SIP to mess with that, though.)

            regards, tom lane



Re: [PATCH 1/1] Initial mach based shared memory support.

From
Thomas Munro
Date:
On Sun, Nov 22, 2020 at 9:19 PM James Hilliard
<james.hilliard1@gmail.com> wrote:
> In order to avoid hitting these limits we can bypass the wrapper layer
> and just use mach directly.

FWIW I looked into using mach_vm_alllocate() years ago because I
wanted to be able to use its VM_FLAGS_SUPERPAGE_SIZE_2MB flag to
implement PostgreSQL's huge_pages option for the main shared memory
area, but I ran into some difficulty getting such mapping to be
inherited by fork() children.  There may be some way to get past that,
but it seems the current crop of Apple Silicon has only 4KB and 16KB
pages and I don't know if that's interesting enough.  On the other
hand, I just saw a claim that "running an arm64 Debian VM on Apple M1,
using a 16K page size instead of 4K reduces this kernel build time by
*16%*".

[1] https://twitter.com/AtTheHackOfDawn/status/1333895115174187011



Re: [PATCH 1/1] Initial mach based shared memory support.

From
David Steele
Date:
On 1/19/21 6:50 AM, James Hilliard wrote:
> On Mon, Jan 18, 2021 at 11:12 PM Tom Lane <tgl@sss.pgh.pa.us> wrote:
>>
>> James Hilliard <james.hilliard1@gmail.com> writes:
>>> from my understanding due to mach semantics a number of the sanity checks
>>> we are doing for sysv shmem are probably unnecessary when using mach
>>> API's due to the mach port task bindings(mach_task_self()) effectively
>>> ensuring our maps are already task bound and won't conflict with other tasks.
>>
>> Really?  If so, this whole patch is pretty much dead in the water,
>> because the fact that sysv shmem is globally accessible is exactly
>> why we use it (well, that and the fact that you can find out how many
>> processes are attached to it).  It's been a long time since we cared
>> about sysv shmem as a source of shared storage.  What we really use
>> it for is as a form of mutual exclusion, i.e. being able to detect
>> whether any live children remain from a dead postmaster.  That is,
>> PGSharedMemoryIsInUse is not some minor ancillary check, it's the main
>> reason this module exists at all.  If POSIX-style mmap'd shmem had the
>> same capability we'd likely have dropped sysv altogether long ago.
 >
> Oh, I had figured the mutual exclusion check was just to ensure that
> one didn't accidentally overlap an existing shared memory map.

At the very least, this patch does not seem to be ready for review, so I 
have marked it Waiting on Author.

Since it appears the approach needs to be reconsidered, my 
recommendation is to mark it Returned with Feedback at the end of the CF 
so I'll do that unless there are objections.

Thanks,
-- 
-David
david@pgmasters.net