Re: Restore replication settings when modifying a field type

On 2019/10/28 12:39, Kyotaro Horiguchi wrote:
> Hello.
> 
> # The patch no longer applies on the current master. Needs a rebasing.
> 
New patch, rebased on master branch.

> At Sat, 26 Oct 2019 16:50:48 +0800, Quan Zongliang <quanzongliang@gmail.com> wrote in
>> In fact, the replication property of the table has not been modified,
>> and it is still 'i'(REPLICA_IDENTITY_INDEX). But the previously
>> specified index property 'indisreplident' is set to false because of
>> the rebuild.
> 
> I suppose that the behavior is intended. Change of column types on the
> publisher side can break the agreement on replica identity with
> subscribers. Thus replica identity setting cannot be restored
> unconditionally. For (somewhat artifitial :p) example:
> 
> P=# create table t (c1 integer, c2 text unique not null);
> P=# alter table t replica identity using index t_c2_key;
> P=# create publication p1 for table t;
> P=# insert into t values (0, '00'), (1, '01');
> S=# create table t (c1 integer, c2 text unique not null);
> S=# alter table t replica identity using index t_c2_key;
> S=# create subscription s1 connection '...' publication p1;
> 
> Your patch allows change of the type of c2 into integer.
> 
> P=# alter table t alter column c2 type integer using c2::integer;
> P=# update t set c1 = c1 + 1 where c2 = '01';
> 
> This change doesn't affect perhaps as expected.
> 
> S=# select * from t;
>   c1 | c2
> ----+----
>    0 | 00
>    1 | 01
> (2 rows)
> 
> 
>> So I developed a patch. If the user modifies the field type. The
>> associated index is REPLICA IDENTITY. Rebuild and restore replication
>> settings.
> 
> Explicit setting of replica identity premises that they are sure that
> the setting works correctly. Implicit rebuilding after a type change
> can silently break it.
> 
> At least we need to guarantee that the restored replica identity
> setting is truly compatible with all existing subscribers. I'm not
> sure about potential subscribers..
> 
> Anyway I think it is a problem that replica identity setting is
> dropped silently. Perhaps a message something like "REPLICA IDENTITY
> setting is lost, please redefine after confirmation of compatibility
> with subscribers." is needed.
> 
> regards.
>