why does count take so long?

Joseph S <jks@selectacast.net>

From: Joseph Shraibman <jks@selectacast.net>
To: pgsql-general@postgresql.org
Date: 2003-09-08T01:06:26Z
Lists: pgsql-general
On a 7.3.4 database:

explain analyse select count(*) from elog;


  Aggregate  (cost=223764.05..223764.05 rows=1 width=0) (actual 
time=81372.11..81372.11 rows=1 loops=1)
    ->  Seq Scan on elog  (cost=0.00..203012.24 rows=8300724 width=0) 
(actual time=3.91..71542.53 rows=8313762 loops=1)
  Total runtime: 81378.42 msec
(3 rows)


It looks like the aggregate took 10 secs all by itself.  What's taking 
so long?