Windows now has fdatasync()

Thomas Munro <thomas.munro@gmail.com>

From: Thomas Munro <thomas.munro@gmail.com>
To: pgsql-hackers <pgsql-hackers@postgresql.org>
Date: 2021-12-12T02:48:10Z
Lists: pgsql-hackers

Attachments

Hi,

While porting some new IO code to lots of OSes I noticed in passing
that there is now a way to do synchronous fdatasync() on Windows.
This mechanism doesn't have an async variant, which is what I was
actually looking for (which turns out to doable with bleeding edge
IoRings, more on that later), but I figured this might be useful
anyway.  I see that at least one other open source database has
discovered it and seen speedups.  Like some other file API
improvements discussed recently, it's Windows 10+ and NTFS only.  I
tried out a quick POC patch and it runs a bit faster than fsync(), as
expected.  I'm not sure if it's worth bothering with or not given the
other options, but figured it was worth sharing.

While testing that I also couldn't resist adding an extra output line
to pg_test_fsync to run open_datasync in buffered I/O mode, like
PostgreSQL actually does in real life.  I guess I should really change
it to duplicate less code, though...

[1] https://www.postgresql.org/message-id/flat/1527846213.2475.31.camel%40cybertec.at

Commits

  1. Remove configure probe for fdatasync.

  2. Remove O_FSYNC and associated macros.

  3. Fix warnings on Windows.

  4. Add wal_sync_method=fdatasync for Windows.