BUG #18156: Self-referential foreign key in partitioned table not enforced on deletes

PG Bug reporting form <noreply@postgresql.org>

From: PG Bug reporting form <noreply@postgresql.org>
To: pgsql-bugs@lists.postgresql.org
Cc: fastcat@gmail.com
Date: 2023-10-13T14:26:56Z
Lists: pgsql-bugs
The following bug has been logged on the website:

Bug reference:      18156
Logged by:          Matthew Gabeler-Lee
Email address:      fastcat@gmail.com
PostgreSQL version: 16.0
Operating system:   Linux
Description:        

When a partitioned table has a self-referential foreign key, I'm finding
that the key is not enforced during deletes from the table.

A simple repro script:

create table x (
    p int4 not null,
    i int4 not null,
    f int4 null,
    primary key (p, i),
    foreign key (p, f) references x (p, i)
)
partition by list (p);
create table x1 partition of x for values in (0);

insert into x values (0,1,null), (0,2,1);
delete from x where (p,i) = (0,1);
select * from x;

The final select shows the one row with the clearly violated foreign key
values:
 p | i | f 
---+---+---
 0 | 2 | 1
(1 row)

I've reproduced this with 15.4 and 16.0 using the official docker images,
specifically `postgres/15-alpine` and `postgres/16-alpine`. I haven't tested
older versions as my application requires features new to 15.x. I've tried
with both list and hash partitioning, and it reproduces with both. I can
only reproduce it with self-referential foreign keys and only with
partitioned tables.

I discovered this with a slightly more complex situation involving an `on
delete set null` clause in the FK, but as seen above that is not required to
reproduce the issue.

Commits

Same data as JSON: GET /api/v1/messages/:b64id/commits the thread's linked commits as JSON, with link sources. API reference →
  1. Handle self-referencing FKs correctly in partitioned tables

  2. Restructure foreign key handling code for ATTACH/DETACH

  3. Fix self-referencing foreign keys with partitioned tables