Thread

Commits

  1. Remove debugging aid

  1. errbacktrace

    Peter Eisentraut <peter.eisentraut@2ndquadrant.com> — 2019-06-25T11:08:21Z

    New thread continuing from
    <https://www.postgresql.org/message-id/d4903af2-e7b7-b551-71f8-3e4a6bdc2e73@2ndquadrant.com>.
    
    Here is a extended version of Álvaro's patch that adds an errbacktrace()
    function.  You can do two things with this:
    
    - Manually attach it to an ereport() call site that you want to debug.
    
    - Set a configuration parameter like backtrace_function = 'int8in' to
    debug ereport()/elog() calls in a specific function.
    
    There was also mention of settings that would automatically produce
    backtraces for PANICs etc.  Those could surely be added if there is
    enough interest.
    
    For the implementation, I support both backtrace() provided by the OS as
    well as using libunwind.  The former seems to be supported by a number
    of platforms, including glibc, macOS, and FreeBSD, so maybe we don't
    need the libunwind suport.  I haven't found any difference in quality in
    the backtraces between the two approaches, but surely that is highly
    dependent on the exact configuration.
    
    I would welcome testing in all direction with this, to see how well it
    works in different circumstances.
    
    -- 
    Peter Eisentraut              http://www.2ndQuadrant.com/
    PostgreSQL Development, 24x7 Support, Remote DBA, Training & Services
    
  2. Re: errbacktrace

    Alvaro Herrera <alvherre@2ndquadrant.com> — 2019-06-25T14:13:24Z

    On 2019-Jun-25, Peter Eisentraut wrote:
    
    > Here is a extended version of Álvaro's patch that adds an errbacktrace()
    > function.
    
    Great stuff, thanks for working on it.
    
    > You can do two things with this:
    > 
    > - Manually attach it to an ereport() call site that you want to debug.
    > 
    > - Set a configuration parameter like backtrace_function = 'int8in' to
    > debug ereport()/elog() calls in a specific function.
    
    WFM.  I tried specifying int4in -- didn't work.  Turns out the errors
    are inside another function which is what I have to put in
    backtrace_function:
    
    $ PGOPTIONS="-c backtrace_function=pg_strtoint32" psql
    
    alvherre=# select int 'foobar';
    
    2019-06-25 10:03:51.034 -04 [11711] ERROR:  invalid input syntax for type integer: "foobar" at character 12
    2019-06-25 10:03:51.034 -04 [11711] BACKTRACE:  postgres: alvherre alvherre [local] SELECT(pg_strtoint32+0xef) [0x55862737bdaf]
    	postgres: alvherre alvherre [local] SELECT(int4in+0xd) [0x558627336d7d]
    	postgres: alvherre alvherre [local] SELECT(InputFunctionCall+0x7b) [0x55862740b10b]
    	postgres: alvherre alvherre [local] SELECT(OidInputFunctionCall+0x48) [0x55862740b378]
    	postgres: alvherre alvherre [local] SELECT(coerce_type+0x297) [0x5586270b2f67]
    	postgres: alvherre alvherre [local] SELECT(coerce_to_target_type+0x9d) [0x5586270b37ad]
    	postgres: alvherre alvherre [local] SELECT(+0x1ed3d8) [0x5586270b83d8]
    	postgres: alvherre alvherre [local] SELECT(transformExpr+0x18) [0x5586270bbcc8]
    	postgres: alvherre alvherre [local] SELECT(transformTargetEntry+0xb2) [0x5586270c81c2]
    	postgres: alvherre alvherre [local] SELECT(transformTargetList+0x58) [0x5586270c9808]
    	postgres: alvherre alvherre [local] SELECT(transformStmt+0x9d1) [0x55862708caf1]
    	postgres: alvherre alvherre [local] SELECT(parse_analyze+0x57) [0x55862708f177]
    	postgres: alvherre alvherre [local] SELECT(pg_analyze_and_rewrite+0x12) [0x5586272d2f02]
    	postgres: alvherre alvherre [local] SELECT(+0x4085ca) [0x5586272d35ca]
    	postgres: alvherre alvherre [local] SELECT(PostgresMain+0x1a37) [0x5586272d52b7]
    	postgres: alvherre alvherre [local] SELECT(+0xbf635) [0x558626f8a635]
    	postgres: alvherre alvherre [local] SELECT(PostmasterMain+0xf3e) [0x55862724e27e]
    	postgres: alvherre alvherre [local] SELECT(main+0x723) [0x558626f8c603]
    	/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/libc.so.6(__libc_start_main+0xe7) [0x7f99d1931b97]
    	postgres: alvherre alvherre [local] SELECT(_start+0x2a) [0x558626f8c6ca]
    
    Didn't think too much about the libunwind format string (or even try to
    compile it.)
    
    Despite possible shortcomings in the produced backtraces, this is a
    *much* more convenient interface than requesting users to attach gdb,
    set breakpoint on errfinish, hey why does my SQL not run, "oh you forgot
    'cont' in gdb", etc.
    
    > There was also mention of settings that would automatically produce
    > backtraces for PANICs etc.  Those could surely be added if there is
    > enough interest.
    
    Let's have the basics first, we can add niceties afterwards.  (IMO yes,
    we should have backtraces in PANICs and assertion failures).
    
    -- 
    Álvaro Herrera                https://www.2ndQuadrant.com/
    PostgreSQL Development, 24x7 Support, Remote DBA, Training & Services
    
    
    
    
  3. Re: errbacktrace

    Ashwin Agrawal <aagrawal@pivotal.io> — 2019-06-25T18:45:23Z

    On Tue, Jun 25, 2019 at 4:08 AM Peter Eisentraut <
    peter.eisentraut@2ndquadrant.com> wrote:
    
    > New thread continuing from
    > <
    > https://www.postgresql.org/message-id/d4903af2-e7b7-b551-71f8-3e4a6bdc2e73@2ndquadrant.com
    > >.
    >
    > Here is a extended version of Álvaro's patch that adds an errbacktrace()
    > function.  You can do two things with this:
    >
    > - Manually attach it to an ereport() call site that you want to debug.
    >
    > - Set a configuration parameter like backtrace_function = 'int8in' to
    > debug ereport()/elog() calls in a specific function.
    >
    
    Thank You. This is very helpful. Surprised is missing for so long time. We
    have printing backtrace in Greenplum and its extremely helpful during
    development and production.
    
    There was also mention of settings that would automatically produce
    > backtraces for PANICs etc.  Those could surely be added if there is
    > enough interest.
    >
    
    In Greenplum, we have backtrace enabled for PANICs, SEGV/BUS/ILL and
    internal ERRORs, proves very helpful.
    
    For the implementation, I support both backtrace() provided by the OS as
    > well as using libunwind.  The former seems to be supported by a number
    > of platforms, including glibc, macOS, and FreeBSD, so maybe we don't
    > need the libunwind suport.  I haven't found any difference in quality in
    > the backtraces between the two approaches, but surely that is highly
    > dependent on the exact configuration.
    >
    
    We have implemented it using backtrace(). Also, using addr2line() (or atos
    for mac) can convert addresses to file and line numbers before printing if
    available, to take it a step further.
    
  4. Re: errbacktrace

    Jaime Casanova <jaime.casanova@2ndquadrant.com> — 2019-06-29T05:40:38Z

    On Tue, 25 Jun 2019 at 06:08, Peter Eisentraut <
    peter.eisentraut@2ndquadrant.com> wrote:
    
    > New thread continuing from
    > <
    > https://www.postgresql.org/message-id/d4903af2-e7b7-b551-71f8-3e4a6bdc2e73@2ndquadrant.com
    > >.
    >
    > Here is a extended version of Álvaro's patch that adds an errbacktrace()
    > function.  You can do two things with this:
    >
    > - Manually attach it to an ereport() call site that you want to debug.
    >
    > - Set a configuration parameter like backtrace_function = 'int8in' to
    > debug ereport()/elog() calls in a specific function.
    >
    > There was also mention of settings that would automatically produce
    > backtraces for PANICs etc.  Those could surely be added if there is
    > enough interest.
    >
    > For the implementation, I support both backtrace() provided by the OS as
    > well as using libunwind.  The former seems to be supported by a number
    > of platforms, including glibc, macOS, and FreeBSD, so maybe we don't
    > need the libunwind suport.  I haven't found any difference in quality in
    > the backtraces between the two approaches, but surely that is highly
    > dependent on the exact configuration.
    >
    > I would welcome testing in all direction with this, to see how well it
    > works in different circumstances.
    >
    >
    Hi Peter,
    
    This is certainly a very useful thing. Sadly, it doesn't seem to compile
    when trying to use libunwind.
    I tried it in a Debian 9 machine with gcc 6.3.0 and debian says i installed
    libunwind8 (1.1)
    
    ./configure --prefix=/home/jcasanov/Documentos/pgdg/pgbuild/pg13
    --enable-debug --enable-profiling --enable-cassert --enable-depend
    --with-libunwind
    
    at make i get these errors:
    """
    utils/error/elog.o: En la función `set_backtrace':
    /home/jcasanov/Documentos/pgdg/projects/postgresql/src/backend/utils/error/elog.c:847:
    referencia a `_Ux86_64_getcontext' sin definir
    /home/jcasanov/Documentos/pgdg/projects/postgresql/src/backend/utils/error/elog.c:848:
    referencia a `_Ux86_64_init_local' sin definir
    /home/jcasanov/Documentos/pgdg/projects/postgresql/src/backend/utils/error/elog.c:850:
    referencia a `_Ux86_64_step' sin definir
    /home/jcasanov/Documentos/pgdg/projects/postgresql/src/backend/utils/error/elog.c:861:
    referencia a `_Ux86_64_get_reg' sin definir
    /home/jcasanov/Documentos/pgdg/projects/postgresql/src/backend/utils/error/elog.c:862:
    referencia a `_Ux86_64_get_proc_name' sin definir
    collect2: error: ld returned 1 exit status
    make[2]: *** [postgres] Error 1
    make[1]: *** [all-backend-recurse] Error 2
    make: *** [all-src-recurse] Error 2
    """
    -- 
    Jaime Casanova                      www.2ndQuadrant.com
    PostgreSQL Development, 24x7 Support, Remote DBA, Training & Services
    
  5. Re: errbacktrace

    Thomas Munro <thomas.munro@gmail.com> — 2019-07-05T03:24:33Z

    On Tue, Jun 25, 2019 at 11:08 PM Peter Eisentraut
    <peter.eisentraut@2ndquadrant.com> wrote:
    > For the implementation, I support both backtrace() provided by the OS as
    > well as using libunwind.  The former seems to be supported by a number
    > of platforms, including glibc, macOS, and FreeBSD, so maybe we don't
    > need the libunwind suport.  I haven't found any difference in quality in
    > the backtraces between the two approaches, but surely that is highly
    > dependent on the exact configuration.
    >
    > I would welcome testing in all direction with this, to see how well it
    > works in different circumstances.
    
    I like it.
    
    Works out of the box on my macOS machine, but for FreeBSD I had to add
    -lexecinfo to LIBS.
    
    -- 
    Thomas Munro
    https://enterprisedb.com
    
    
    
    
  6. Re: errbacktrace

    Dmitry Dolgov <9erthalion6@gmail.com> — 2019-07-08T15:28:01Z

    > On Sat, Jun 29, 2019 at 7:41 AM Jaime Casanova <jaime.casanova@2ndquadrant.com> wrote:
    >
    > This is certainly a very useful thing. Sadly, it doesn't seem to compile when
    > trying to use libunwind.
    
    Yeah, the same for me. To make it works I've restricted libunwind to local
    unwinding only:
    
        #ifdef USE_LIBUNWIND
        #define UNW_LOCAL_ONLY
        #include <libunwind.h>
        #endif
    
    And result looks pretty nice:
    
    2019-07-08 17:24:08.406 CEST [31828] ERROR:  invalid input syntax for
    type integer: "foobar" at character 12
    2019-07-08 17:24:08.406 CEST [31828] BACKTRACE:  #0
    pg_strtoint32+0x1d1 [0x000055fa389bcbbe]
            #1  int4in+0xd [0x000055fa38976d7b]
            #2  InputFunctionCall+0x6f [0x000055fa38a488e9]
            #3  OidInputFunctionCall+0x44 [0x000055fa38a48b0d]
            #4  stringTypeDatum+0x33 [0x000055fa386e222e]
            #5  coerce_type+0x26d [0x000055fa386ca14d]
            #6  coerce_to_target_type+0x79 [0x000055fa386c9494]
            #7  transformTypeCast+0xaa [0x000055fa386d0042]
            #8  transformExprRecurse+0x22f [0x000055fa386cf650]
            #9  transformExpr+0x1a [0x000055fa386cf30a]
            #10 transformTargetEntry+0x79 [0x000055fa386e1131]
            #11 transformTargetList+0x86 [0x000055fa386e11ce]
            #12 transformSelectStmt+0xa1 [0x000055fa386a29c9]
            #13 transformStmt+0x9d [0x000055fa386a345a]
            #14 transformOptionalSelectInto+0x94 [0x000055fa386a3f49]
            #15 transformTopLevelStmt+0x15 [0x000055fa386a3f88]
            #16 parse_analyze+0x4e [0x000055fa386a3fef]
            #17 pg_analyze_and_rewrite+0x3e [0x000055fa3890cfa5]
            #18 exec_simple_query+0x35b [0x000055fa3890d5b5]
            #19 PostgresMain+0x91f [0x000055fa3890f7a8]
            #20 BackendRun+0x1ac [0x000055fa3887ed17]
            #21 BackendStartup+0x15c [0x000055fa38881ea1]
            #22 ServerLoop+0x1e6 [0x000055fa388821bb]
            #23 PostmasterMain+0x1101 [0x000055fa388835a1]
            #24 main+0x21a [0x000055fa387db1a9]
            #25 __libc_start_main+0xe7 [0x00007f3d1a607fa7]
            #26 _start+0x2a [0x000055fa3858e4ea]
    
    
    
    
  7. Re: errbacktrace

    Alvaro Herrera <alvherre@2ndquadrant.com> — 2019-07-08T16:28:51Z

    On 2019-Jul-08, Dmitry Dolgov wrote:
    
    > > On Sat, Jun 29, 2019 at 7:41 AM Jaime Casanova <jaime.casanova@2ndquadrant.com> wrote:
    > >
    > > This is certainly a very useful thing. Sadly, it doesn't seem to compile when
    > > trying to use libunwind.
    > 
    > Yeah, the same for me. To make it works I've restricted libunwind to local
    > unwinding only:
    > 
    >     #ifdef USE_LIBUNWIND
    >     #define UNW_LOCAL_ONLY
    >     #include <libunwind.h>
    >     #endif
    
    Ah, yes.  unwind's manpage says:
    
      Normally, libunwind supports both local and remote unwinding (the latter will
      be explained in the next section). However, if you tell libunwind that your
      program only needs local unwinding, then a special implementation can be
      selected which may run much faster than the generic implementation which
      supports both kinds of unwinding. To select this optimized version, simply
      define the macro UNW_LOCAL_ONLY before including the headerfile <libunwind.h>.
    
    so I agree with unconditionally defining that symbol.
    
    Nitpicking dept: I think in these tests:
    
    +   if (!edata->backtrace &&
    +       edata->funcname &&
    +       backtrace_function[0] &&
    +       strcmp(backtrace_function, edata->funcname) == 0)
    +       set_backtrace(edata, 2);
    
    we should test for backtrace_function[0] before edata->funcname, since
    it seems more likely to be unset.
    
    -- 
    Álvaro Herrera                https://www.2ndQuadrant.com/
    PostgreSQL Development, 24x7 Support, Remote DBA, Training & Services
    
    
    
    
  8. Re: errbacktrace

    Peter Eisentraut <peter.eisentraut@2ndquadrant.com> — 2019-07-09T09:43:28Z

    After further research I'm thinking about dropping the libunwind
    support.  The backtrace()/backtrace_symbols() API is more widely
    available: darwin, freebsd, linux, netbsd, openbsd (via port), solaris,
    and of course it's built-in, whereas libunwind is only available for
    linux, freebsd, hpux, solaris, and requires an external dependency.
    
    -- 
    Peter Eisentraut              http://www.2ndQuadrant.com/
    PostgreSQL Development, 24x7 Support, Remote DBA, Training & Services
    
    
    
    
  9. Re: errbacktrace

    Peter Eisentraut <peter.eisentraut@2ndquadrant.com> — 2019-07-22T18:19:26Z

    On 2019-07-09 11:43, Peter Eisentraut wrote:
    > After further research I'm thinking about dropping the libunwind
    > support.  The backtrace()/backtrace_symbols() API is more widely
    > available: darwin, freebsd, linux, netbsd, openbsd (via port), solaris,
    > and of course it's built-in, whereas libunwind is only available for
    > linux, freebsd, hpux, solaris, and requires an external dependency.
    
    Here is an updated patch without the libunwind support, some minor
    cleanups, documentation, and automatic back traces from assertion failures.
    
    -- 
    Peter Eisentraut              http://www.2ndQuadrant.com/
    PostgreSQL Development, 24x7 Support, Remote DBA, Training & Services
    
  10. Re: errbacktrace

    Alvaro Herrera <alvherre@2ndquadrant.com> — 2019-07-22T19:37:47Z

    On 2019-Jul-22, Peter Eisentraut wrote:
    
    > On 2019-07-09 11:43, Peter Eisentraut wrote:
    > > After further research I'm thinking about dropping the libunwind
    > > support.  The backtrace()/backtrace_symbols() API is more widely
    > > available: darwin, freebsd, linux, netbsd, openbsd (via port), solaris,
    > > and of course it's built-in, whereas libunwind is only available for
    > > linux, freebsd, hpux, solaris, and requires an external dependency.
    > 
    > Here is an updated patch without the libunwind support, some minor
    > cleanups, documentation, and automatic back traces from assertion failures.
    
    The only possibly complaint I see is that the backtrace support in
    ExceptionalCondition does not work for Windows eventlog/console ... but
    that seems moot since Windows does not have backtrace support anyway.
    
    +1 to get this patch in at this stage; we can further refine (esp. add
    Windows support) later, if need be.
    
    https://stackoverflow.com/questions/26398064/counterpart-to-glibcs-backtrace-and-backtrace-symbols-on-windows
    
    -- 
    Álvaro Herrera                https://www.2ndQuadrant.com/
    PostgreSQL Development, 24x7 Support, Remote DBA, Training & Services
    
    
    
    
  11. Re: errbacktrace

    Tom Lane <tgl@sss.pgh.pa.us> — 2019-07-22T20:05:35Z

    Peter Eisentraut <peter.eisentraut@2ndquadrant.com> writes:
    > Here is an updated patch without the libunwind support, some minor
    > cleanups, documentation, and automatic back traces from assertion failures.
    
    Just noticing that ExceptionalCondition has an "fflush(stderr);"
    in front of what you added --- perhaps you should also add one
    after the backtrace_symbols_fd call?  It's not clear to me that
    that function guarantees to fflush, nor do I want to assume that
    abort() does.
    
    			regards, tom lane
    
    
    
    
  12. Re: errbacktrace

    Tom Lane <tgl@sss.pgh.pa.us> — 2019-07-22T20:10:58Z

    I wrote:
    > Just noticing that ExceptionalCondition has an "fflush(stderr);"
    > in front of what you added --- perhaps you should also add one
    > after the backtrace_symbols_fd call?  It's not clear to me that
    > that function guarantees to fflush, nor do I want to assume that
    > abort() does.
    
    Oh, wait, it's writing to fileno(stderr) so it couldn't be
    buffering anything.  Disregard ...
    
    			regards, tom lane
    
    
    
    
  13. Re: errbacktrace

    Thomas Munro <thomas.munro@gmail.com> — 2019-07-22T23:25:43Z

    On Tue, Jul 23, 2019 at 6:19 AM Peter Eisentraut
    <peter.eisentraut@2ndquadrant.com> wrote:
    > On 2019-07-09 11:43, Peter Eisentraut wrote:
    > > After further research I'm thinking about dropping the libunwind
    > > support.  The backtrace()/backtrace_symbols() API is more widely
    > > available: darwin, freebsd, linux, netbsd, openbsd (via port), solaris,
    > > and of course it's built-in, whereas libunwind is only available for
    > > linux, freebsd, hpux, solaris, and requires an external dependency.
    >
    > Here is an updated patch without the libunwind support, some minor
    > cleanups, documentation, and automatic back traces from assertion failures.
    
    Now works out of the box on FreeBSD.  The assertion thing is a nice touch.
    
    I wonder if it'd make sense to have a log_min_backtrace GUC that you
    could set to error/fatal/panicwhatever (perhaps in a later patch).
    
    -- 
    Thomas Munro
    https://enterprisedb.com
    
    
    
    
  14. Re: errbacktrace

    Pavel Stehule <pavel.stehule@gmail.com> — 2019-08-12T11:19:41Z

    Hi
    
    so I agree with unconditionally defining that symbol.
    >
    > Nitpicking dept: I think in these tests:
    >
    > +   if (!edata->backtrace &&
    > +       edata->funcname &&
    > +       backtrace_function[0] &&
    > +       strcmp(backtrace_function, edata->funcname) == 0)
    > +       set_backtrace(edata, 2);
    >
    >
    If I understand well, backtrace is displayed only when edata->funcname is
    same like backtrace_function GUC. Isn't it too strong limit?
    
    For example, I want to see backtrace for all PANIC level errors on
    production, and I would not to limit the source function?
    
    Regards
    
    Pavel
    
    
    
    
    
    > we should test for backtrace_function[0] before edata->funcname, since
    > it seems more likely to be unset.
    >
    > --
    > Álvaro Herrera                https://www.2ndQuadrant.com/
    > PostgreSQL Development, 24x7 Support, Remote DBA, Training & Services
    >
    >
    >
    >
    >
    
  15. Re: errbacktrace

    Peter Eisentraut <peter.eisentraut@2ndquadrant.com> — 2019-08-12T17:06:29Z

    On 2019-08-12 13:19, Pavel Stehule wrote:
    > If I understand well, backtrace is displayed only when edata->funcname
    > is same like backtrace_function GUC. Isn't it too strong limit?
    > 
    > For example, I want to see backtrace for all PANIC level errors on
    > production, and I would not to limit the source function?
    
    We can add additional ways to invoke this once we have the basic
    functionality in.
    
    -- 
    Peter Eisentraut              http://www.2ndQuadrant.com/
    PostgreSQL Development, 24x7 Support, Remote DBA, Training & Services
    
    
    
    
  16. Re: errbacktrace

    Pavel Stehule <pavel.stehule@gmail.com> — 2019-08-12T17:08:30Z

    po 12. 8. 2019 v 19:06 odesílatel Peter Eisentraut <
    peter.eisentraut@2ndquadrant.com> napsal:
    
    > On 2019-08-12 13:19, Pavel Stehule wrote:
    > > If I understand well, backtrace is displayed only when edata->funcname
    > > is same like backtrace_function GUC. Isn't it too strong limit?
    > >
    > > For example, I want to see backtrace for all PANIC level errors on
    > > production, and I would not to limit the source function?
    >
    > We can add additional ways to invoke this once we have the basic
    > functionality in.
    >
    
    ok
    
    Pavel
    
    >
    > --
    > Peter Eisentraut              http://www.2ndQuadrant.com/
    > PostgreSQL Development, 24x7 Support, Remote DBA, Training & Services
    >
    
  17. Re: errbacktrace

    Peter Eisentraut <peter.eisentraut@2ndquadrant.com> — 2019-08-13T08:12:10Z

    On 2019-07-22 20:19, Peter Eisentraut wrote:
    > On 2019-07-09 11:43, Peter Eisentraut wrote:
    >> After further research I'm thinking about dropping the libunwind
    >> support.  The backtrace()/backtrace_symbols() API is more widely
    >> available: darwin, freebsd, linux, netbsd, openbsd (via port), solaris,
    >> and of course it's built-in, whereas libunwind is only available for
    >> linux, freebsd, hpux, solaris, and requires an external dependency.
    > 
    > Here is an updated patch without the libunwind support, some minor
    > cleanups, documentation, and automatic back traces from assertion failures.
    
    Another updated version.
    
    I have changed the configuration setting to backtrace_functions plural,
    so that you can debug more than one location at once.  I had originally
    wanted to do that but using existing functions like
    SplitIdentifierString() resulted in lots of complications with error
    handling (inside error handling!).  So here I just hand-coded the list
    splitting.  Seems simple enough.
    
    I think this patch is now good to go from my perspective.
    
    -- 
    Peter Eisentraut              http://www.2ndQuadrant.com/
    PostgreSQL Development, 24x7 Support, Remote DBA, Training & Services
    
  18. Re: errbacktrace

    Alvaro Herrera <alvherre@2ndquadrant.com> — 2019-08-13T13:24:13Z

    On 2019-Aug-13, Peter Eisentraut wrote:
    
    > I have changed the configuration setting to backtrace_functions plural,
    > so that you can debug more than one location at once.  I had originally
    > wanted to do that but using existing functions like
    > SplitIdentifierString() resulted in lots of complications with error
    > handling (inside error handling!).  So here I just hand-coded the list
    > splitting.  Seems simple enough.
    
    Hmm ... but is that the natural way to write this?  I would have thought
    you'd split the list at config-read time (the assign hook for the GUC)
    and turn it into a List of simple strings.  Then you don't have to
    loop strtok() on each errfinish().
    
    -- 
    Álvaro Herrera                https://www.2ndQuadrant.com/
    PostgreSQL Development, 24x7 Support, Remote DBA, Training & Services
    
    
    
    
  19. Re: errbacktrace

    Tom Lane <tgl@sss.pgh.pa.us> — 2019-08-13T14:14:51Z

    Peter Eisentraut <peter.eisentraut@2ndquadrant.com> writes:
    > I have changed the configuration setting to backtrace_functions plural,
    > so that you can debug more than one location at once.  I had originally
    > wanted to do that but using existing functions like
    > SplitIdentifierString() resulted in lots of complications with error
    > handling (inside error handling!).  So here I just hand-coded the list
    > splitting.  Seems simple enough.
    
    I think it's a pretty bad idea for anything invocable from elog to
    trample on the process-wide strtok() state.  Even if there's no
    conflict today, there will be one eventually, unless you are going
    to adopt the position that nobody else is allowed to use strtok().
    
    			regards, tom lane
    
    
    
    
  20. Re: errbacktrace

    Peter Eisentraut <peter.eisentraut@2ndquadrant.com> — 2019-08-20T19:06:15Z

    On 2019-08-13 15:24, Alvaro Herrera wrote:
    > On 2019-Aug-13, Peter Eisentraut wrote:
    > 
    >> I have changed the configuration setting to backtrace_functions plural,
    >> so that you can debug more than one location at once.  I had originally
    >> wanted to do that but using existing functions like
    >> SplitIdentifierString() resulted in lots of complications with error
    >> handling (inside error handling!).  So here I just hand-coded the list
    >> splitting.  Seems simple enough.
    > 
    > Hmm ... but is that the natural way to write this?  I would have thought
    > you'd split the list at config-read time (the assign hook for the GUC)
    > and turn it into a List of simple strings.  Then you don't have to
    > loop strtok() on each errfinish().
    
    The memory management of that seems too complicated.  The "extra"
    mechanism of the check/assign hooks only supports one level of malloc.
    Using a List seems impossible.  I don't know if you can safely do a
    malloc-ed array of malloc-ed strings either.
    
    -- 
    Peter Eisentraut              http://www.2ndQuadrant.com/
    PostgreSQL Development, 24x7 Support, Remote DBA, Training & Services
    
    
    
    
  21. Re: errbacktrace

    Alvaro Herrera <alvherre@2ndquadrant.com> — 2019-09-13T15:54:32Z

    On 2019-Aug-20, Peter Eisentraut wrote:
    
    > The memory management of that seems too complicated.  The "extra"
    > mechanism of the check/assign hooks only supports one level of malloc.
    > Using a List seems impossible.  I don't know if you can safely do a
    > malloc-ed array of malloc-ed strings either.
    
    Here's an idea -- have the check/assign hooks create a different
    representation, which is a single guc_malloc'ed chunk that is made up of
    every function name listed in the GUC, separated by \0.  That can be
    scanned at error time comparing the function name with each piece.
    
    -- 
    Álvaro Herrera                https://www.2ndQuadrant.com/
    PostgreSQL Development, 24x7 Support, Remote DBA, Training & Services
    
  22. Re: errbacktrace

    Alvaro Herrera <alvherre@2ndquadrant.com> — 2019-09-27T15:50:01Z

    On 2019-Sep-13, Alvaro Herrera wrote:
    
    > On 2019-Aug-20, Peter Eisentraut wrote:
    > 
    > > The memory management of that seems too complicated.  The "extra"
    > > mechanism of the check/assign hooks only supports one level of malloc.
    > > Using a List seems impossible.  I don't know if you can safely do a
    > > malloc-ed array of malloc-ed strings either.
    > 
    > Here's an idea -- have the check/assign hooks create a different
    > representation, which is a single guc_malloc'ed chunk that is made up of
    > every function name listed in the GUC, separated by \0.  That can be
    > scanned at error time comparing the function name with each piece.
    
    Peter, would you like me to clean this up for commit, or do you prefer
    to keep authorship and get it done yourself?
    
    -- 
    Álvaro Herrera                https://www.2ndQuadrant.com/
    PostgreSQL Development, 24x7 Support, Remote DBA, Training & Services
    
    
    
    
  23. Re: errbacktrace

    Peter Eisentraut <peter.eisentraut@2ndquadrant.com> — 2019-09-30T18:16:47Z

    On 2019-09-27 17:50, Alvaro Herrera wrote:
    > On 2019-Sep-13, Alvaro Herrera wrote:
    > 
    >> On 2019-Aug-20, Peter Eisentraut wrote:
    >>
    >>> The memory management of that seems too complicated.  The "extra"
    >>> mechanism of the check/assign hooks only supports one level of malloc.
    >>> Using a List seems impossible.  I don't know if you can safely do a
    >>> malloc-ed array of malloc-ed strings either.
    >>
    >> Here's an idea -- have the check/assign hooks create a different
    >> representation, which is a single guc_malloc'ed chunk that is made up of
    >> every function name listed in the GUC, separated by \0.  That can be
    >> scanned at error time comparing the function name with each piece.
    > 
    > Peter, would you like me to clean this up for commit, or do you prefer
    > to keep authorship and get it done yourself?
    
    If you want to finish it using the idea from your previous message,
    please feel free.  I won't get to it this week.
    
    -- 
    Peter Eisentraut              http://www.2ndQuadrant.com/
    PostgreSQL Development, 24x7 Support, Remote DBA, Training & Services
    
    
    
    
  24. Re: errbacktrace

    Peter Eisentraut <peter.eisentraut@2ndquadrant.com> — 2019-10-26T12:37:45Z

    On 2019-09-30 20:16, Peter Eisentraut wrote:
    > On 2019-09-27 17:50, Alvaro Herrera wrote:
    >> On 2019-Sep-13, Alvaro Herrera wrote:
    >>
    >>> On 2019-Aug-20, Peter Eisentraut wrote:
    >>>
    >>>> The memory management of that seems too complicated.  The "extra"
    >>>> mechanism of the check/assign hooks only supports one level of malloc.
    >>>> Using a List seems impossible.  I don't know if you can safely do a
    >>>> malloc-ed array of malloc-ed strings either.
    >>>
    >>> Here's an idea -- have the check/assign hooks create a different
    >>> representation, which is a single guc_malloc'ed chunk that is made up of
    >>> every function name listed in the GUC, separated by \0.  That can be
    >>> scanned at error time comparing the function name with each piece.
    >>
    >> Peter, would you like me to clean this up for commit, or do you prefer
    >> to keep authorship and get it done yourself?
    > 
    > If you want to finish it using the idea from your previous message,
    > please feel free.  I won't get to it this week.
    
    I hadn't realized that you had already attached a patch that implements
    your idea.  It looks good to me.  Maybe a small comment near
    check_backtrace_functions() why we're not using a regular list.  Other
    than that, please go ahead with this.
    
    -- 
    Peter Eisentraut              http://www.2ndQuadrant.com/
    PostgreSQL Development, 24x7 Support, Remote DBA, Training & Services
    
    
    
    
  25. Re: errbacktrace

    Alvaro Herrera <alvherre@2ndquadrant.com> — 2019-11-08T18:52:46Z

    On 2019-Oct-26, Peter Eisentraut wrote:
    
    > I hadn't realized that you had already attached a patch that implements
    > your idea.  It looks good to me.  Maybe a small comment near
    > check_backtrace_functions() why we're not using a regular list.  Other
    > than that, please go ahead with this.
    
    Thanks, I added that comment and others, and pushed.  Let's see what
    happens now ...
    
    -- 
    Álvaro Herrera                https://www.2ndQuadrant.com/
    PostgreSQL Development, 24x7 Support, Remote DBA, Training & Services
    
    
    
    
  26. Re: errbacktrace

    Tom Lane <tgl@sss.pgh.pa.us> — 2019-11-23T16:11:08Z

    Alvaro Herrera <alvherre@2ndquadrant.com> writes:
    > On 2019-Oct-26, Peter Eisentraut wrote:
    >> I hadn't realized that you had already attached a patch that implements
    >> your idea.  It looks good to me.  Maybe a small comment near
    >> check_backtrace_functions() why we're not using a regular list.  Other
    >> than that, please go ahead with this.
    
    > Thanks, I added that comment and others, and pushed.  Let's see what
    > happens now ...
    
    I had occasion to try to use errbacktrace() just now, and it blew up
    on me.  Investigation finds this:
    
    int
    errbacktrace(void)
    {
    	ErrorData   *edata = &errordata[errordata_stack_depth];
    	MemoryContext oldcontext;
    
    	Assert(false);
    
    
    I suppose that's a debugging leftover that shouldn't have been committed?
    It did what I wanted after I took out the Assert.
    
    			regards, tom lane
    
    
    
    
  27. Re: errbacktrace

    Alvaro Herrera <alvherre@2ndquadrant.com> — 2019-11-23T16:14:06Z

    On 2019-Nov-23, Tom Lane wrote:
    
    > I had occasion to try to use errbacktrace() just now, and it blew up
    > on me.  Investigation finds this:
    > 
    > int
    > errbacktrace(void)
    > {
    > 	ErrorData   *edata = &errordata[errordata_stack_depth];
    > 	MemoryContext oldcontext;
    > 
    > 	Assert(false);
    > 
    > 
    > I suppose that's a debugging leftover that shouldn't have been committed?
    > It did what I wanted after I took out the Assert.
    
    Uhh ... facepalm.  Yes, that's not intended.  I don't remember why would
    I want to put that there.
    
    -- 
    Álvaro Herrera                https://www.2ndQuadrant.com/
    PostgreSQL Development, 24x7 Support, Remote DBA, Training & Services