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Re: Buffer locking is special (hints, checksums, AIO writes)

Melanie Plageman <melanieplageman@gmail.com>

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From: Melanie Plageman <melanieplageman@gmail.com>
To: Andres Freund <andres@anarazel.de>
Cc: Kirill Reshke <reshkekirill@gmail.com>, Heikki Linnakangas <hlinnaka@iki.fi>, Matthias van de Meent <boekewurm+postgres@gmail.com>, pgsql-hackers@postgresql.org, Thomas Munro <thomas.munro@gmail.com>, Noah Misch <noah@leadboat.com>, Robert Haas <robertmhaas@gmail.com>, Michael Paquier <michael.paquier@gmail.com>
Date: 2026-01-13T14:59:12Z
Lists: pgsql-hackers 
On Mon, Jan 12, 2026 at 6:22 PM Andres Freund <andres@anarazel.de> wrote:
>
> Is this better?
>     lwlock: Invert meaning of LW_FLAG_RELEASE_OK
>
>     Previously, a flag was set to indicate that a lock release should wake up
>     waiters. Since waking waiters is the default behavior in the majority of
>     cases, this logic has been inverted. The new LW_FLAG_WAKE_IN_PROGRESS flag is
>     now set iff wakeups are explicitly inhibited.

I think what you have would work for most people. The key thing for me
is that the wakeups are inhibited _because_ someone else is already
awake. So, you don't have to wake anyone up when you release the lock
because there is already someone awake. Having you explain that
off-list was necessary for me to bridge the gap between RELEASE_NOT_OK
and WAKE_IN_PROGRESS. And I do agree that WAKE_IN_PROGRESS is more
descriptive of when the flag is actually set. RELEASE_NOT_OK doesn't
explain the state or who/when it should be set.

> > I wondered why this was needed (i.e. why it wasn't needed before)
>
> > @@ -6688,7 +7428,25 @@ ResOwnerReleaseBufferPin(Datum res)
> >      if (BufferIsLocal(buffer))
> >          UnpinLocalBufferNoOwner(buffer);
> >      else
> > +    {
> > +        PrivateRefCountEntry *ref;
> > +
> > +        ref = GetPrivateRefCountEntry(buffer, false);
> > +
> > +        /*
> > +         * If the buffer was locked at the time of the resowner release,
> > +         * release the lock now. This should only happen after errors.
> > +         */
> > +        if (ref->data.lockmode != BUFFER_LOCK_UNLOCK)
> > +        {
> > +            BufferDesc *buf = GetBufferDescriptor(buffer - 1);
> > +
> > +            HOLD_INTERRUPTS();    /* match the upcoming RESUME_INTERRUPTS */
> > +            BufferLockUnlock(buffer, buf);
> > +        }
> > +
> >          UnpinBufferNoOwner(GetBufferDescriptor(buffer - 1));
> > +    }
> >  }
>
> It's needed because previously content locks were released as part of the
> LWLockReleaseAll() that are sprinkled across various error recovery paths. Now
> that content locks aren't implemented via lwlocks anymore, something new is needed.

And all those LWLockReleaseAll()s are still needed because we might
hold other LWLocks even though we won't hold them for buffer content
access?

> > +    /* XXX: combine with fetch_and above? */
> > +    UnlockBufHdr(buf_hdr);
> >
> > Are you thinking about adding a helper that stops waiting and unlocks?
>
> I'm not sure what you mean by that? Just whether I plan to implement the
> FIXME?

I was trying to figure out why you left it as a FIXME and didn't just
do it or not do it. I thought maybe it was because you weren't sure if
you wanted to add another helper in addition to UnlockBufHdr().

> > bufmgr.c is super long anyway, so it's not like making it separate
> > makes the file manageable. On the other hand, it's probably better to
> > not keep making it worse.
>
> Yea. OTOH I don't know if a header that's just included by one file is really
> an improvement :/

Yea, I suppose that is a bit odd. Though it could be a pattern you
start for organizing gigantic files. I'm overall a +0.7 unless you
explain some other downsides than oddity.

- Melanie

Commits

Same data as JSON: GET /api/v1/messages/:b64id/commits the thread's linked commits as JSON, with link sources. API reference →

  1. bufmgr: Fix ordering of checks in PinBuffer()

  2. Use UnlockReleaseBuffer() in more places

  3. bufmgr: Make UnlockReleaseBuffer() more efficient

  4. bufmgr: Don't copy pages while writing out

  5. Fix use of wrong variable in _hash_kill_items()

  6. Fix bug due to confusion about what IsMVCCSnapshot means

  7. bufmgr: Switch to standard order in MarkBufferDirtyHint()

  8. bufmgr: Remove the, now obsolete, BM_JUST_DIRTIED

  9. Require share-exclusive lock to set hint bits and to flush

  10. heapam: Don't mimic MarkBufferDirtyHint() in inplace updates

  11. bufmgr: Allow conditionally locking of already locked buffer

  12. bufmgr: Avoid spurious compiler warning after fcb9c977aa5

  13. lwlock: Remove ForEachLWLockHeldByMe

  14. lwlock: Remove support for disowned lwlwocks

  15. bufmgr: Implement buffer content locks independently of lwlocks

  16. bufmgr: Change BufferDesc.state to be a 64-bit atomic

  17. lwlock: Improve local variable name

  18. lwlock: Invert meaning of LW_FLAG_RELEASE_OK

  19. bufmgr: Make definitions related to buffer descriptor easier to modify

  20. heapam: Add batch mode mvcc check and use it in page mode

  21. freespace: Don't modify page without any lock

  22. heapam: Move logic to handle HEAP_MOVED into a helper function

  23. bufmgr: Optimize & harmonize LockBufHdr(), LWLockWaitListLock()

  24. bufmgr: Add one-entry cache for private refcount

  25. bufmgr: Separate keys for private refcount infrastructure

  26. Add pg_atomic_unlocked_write_u64

  27. Rename BUFFERPIN wait event class to BUFFER

  28. bufmgr: Turn BUFFER_LOCK_* into an enum

  29. lwlock: Fix, currently harmless, bug in LWLockWakeup()

  30. bufmgr: Use atomic sub for unpinning buffers

  31. bufmgr: Allow some buffer state modifications while holding header lock

  32. bufmgr: Fix valgrind checking for buffers pinned in StrategyGetBuffer()

  33. bufmgr: Don't lock buffer header in StrategyGetBuffer()

  34. bufmgr: fewer calls to BufferDescriptorGetContentLock

  35. bufmgr: Fix signedness of mask variable in BufferSync()

  36. bufmgr: Introduce FlushUnlockedBuffer

  37. Improve ReadRecentBuffer() scalability