Re: Statistics Import and Export

Corey Huinker <corey.huinker@gmail.com>

From: Corey Huinker <corey.huinker@gmail.com>
To: Tomas Vondra <tomas.vondra@enterprisedb.com>
Cc: Jeff Davis <pgsql@j-davis.com>, Stephen Frost <sfrost@snowman.net>, Matthias van de Meent <boekewurm+postgres@gmail.com>, Ashutosh Bapat <ashutosh.bapat.oss@gmail.com>, Peter Smith <smithpb2250@gmail.com>, PostgreSQL Hackers <pgsql-hackers@lists.postgresql.org>
Date: 2024-03-27T06:27:17Z
Lists: pgsql-hackers

Commits

Same data as JSON: GET /api/v1/messages/:b64id/commits the thread's linked commits as JSON, with link sources. API reference →
  1. Change pg_dump default for statistics export.

  2. pg_dump: Adjust reltuples from 0 to -1 for dumps of older versions.

  3. vacuumdb: Don't skip empty relations in --missing-stats-only mode.

  4. pg_dump: Fix query for gathering attribute stats on older versions.

  5. Prevent redeclaration of typedef TocEntry.

  6. Remove unused function parameters in pg_backup_archiver.c.

  7. pg_dump: Retrieve attribute statistics in batches.

  8. pg_dump: Reduce memory usage of dumps with statistics.

  9. Skip second WriteToc() call for custom-format dumps without data.

  10. Add relallfrozen to pg_dump statistics.

  11. Matview statistics depend on matview data.

  12. Add pg_dump --with-{schema|data|statistics} options.

  13. Stats: use schemaname/relname instead of regclass.

  14. CREATE INDEX: do update index stats if autovacuum=off.

  15. Don't convert to and from floats in pg_dump.

  16. CREATE INDEX: don't update table stats if autovacuum=off.

  17. Organize and deduplicate statistics import tests.

  18. Address stats export review comments.

  19. Address stats import review comments.

  20. Add relallfrozen to pg_class

  21. Fix pg_strtof() to not crash on NULL endptr.

  22. Use attnum to identify index columns in pg_restore_attribute_stats().

  23. pg_dump: prepare attribute stats query.

  24. Avoid unnecessary relation stats query in pg_dump.

  25. Remove redundant pg_set_*_stats() variants.

  26. Do not use in-place updates for statistics import.

  27. Fix confusion about data type of pg_class.relpages and relallvisible.

  28. Documentation fixups for dumping statistics.

  29. Trial fix for old cross-version upgrades.

  30. Transfer statistics during pg_upgrade.

  31. Lock table in ShareUpdateExclusive when importing index stats.

  32. Use in-place updates for pg_restore_relation_stats().

  33. Improve error message for replication of generated columns.

  34. pg_dump: Add dumpSchema and dumpData derivative flags.

  35. Disallow modifying statistics on system columns.

  36. Add missing CommandCounterIncrement() in stats import functions.

  37. Add functions pg_restore_relation_stats(), pg_restore_attribute_stats().

  38. Documentation fixup.

  39. Add functions pg_set_attribute_stats() and pg_clear_attribute_stats().

  40. Change pg_*_relation_stats() functions to return type to void.

  41. Disable autovacuum for tables in stats import tests.

  42. Allow pg_set_relation_stats() to set relpages to -1.

  43. Fixup for pg_set_relation_stats().

  44. Create functions pg_set_relation_stats, pg_clear_relation_stats.

  45. Add memory/disk usage for Window aggregate nodes in EXPLAIN.

  46. Improve performance of dumpSequenceData().

  47. Add INJECTION_POINT_CACHED() to run injection points directly from cache

  48. Improve performance of binary_upgrade_set_pg_class_oids().

  49. Improve assertion in mdwritev()

  50. CREATE INDEX: do not update stats during binary upgrade.

  51. Redefine pg_class.reltuples to be -1 before the first VACUUM or ANALYZE.

>
> 1) The docs say this:
>
>   <para>
>    The purpose of this function is to apply statistics values in an
>    upgrade situation that are "good enough" for system operation until
>    they are replaced by the next <command>ANALYZE</command>, usually via
>    <command>autovacuum</command> This function is used by
>    <command>pg_upgrade</command> and <command>pg_restore</command> to
>    convey the statistics from the old system version into the new one.
>   </para>
>
> I find this a bit confusing, considering the pg_dump/pg_restore changes
> are only in 0002, not in this patch.
>

True, I'll split the docs.


>
> 2) Also, I'm not sure about this:
>
>   <parameter>relation</parameter>, the parameters in this are all
>   derived from <structname>pg_stats</structname>, and the values
>   given are most often extracted from there.
>
> How do we know where do the values come from "most often"? I mean, where
> else would it come from?
>

The next most likely sources would be 1. stats from another similar table
and 2. the imagination of a user testing hypothetical query plans.


>
> 3) The function pg_set_attribute_stats() is veeeeery long - 1000 lines
> or so, that's way too many for me to think about. I agree the flow is
> pretty simple, but I still wonder if there's a way to maybe split it
> into some smaller "meaningful" steps.
>

I wrestle with that myself. I think there's some pieces that can be
factored out.


> 4) It took me *ages* to realize the enums at the beginning of some of
> the functions are actually indexes of arguments in PG_FUNCTION_ARGS.
> That'd surely deserve a comment explaining this.
>

My apologies, it definitely deserves a comment.


>
> 5) The comment for param_names in pg_set_attribute_stats says this:
>
>     /* names of columns that cannot be null */
>     const char *param_names[] = { ... }
>
> but isn't that actually incorrect? I think that applies only to a couple
> initial arguments, but then other fields (MCV, mcelem stats, ...) can be
> NULL, right?
>

Yes, that is vestigial, I'll remove it.


>
> 6) There's a couple minor whitespace fixes or comments etc.
>
>
> 0002
> ----
>
> 1) I don't understand why we have exportExtStatsSupported(). Seems
> pointless - nothing calls it, even if it did we don't know how to export
> the stats.
>

It's not strictly necessary.


>
> 2) I think this condition in dumpTableSchema() is actually incorrect:
>
> IMO that's wrong, the statistics should be delayed to the post-data
> section. Which probably means there needs to be a separate dumpable
> object for statistics on table/index, with a dependency on the object.
>

Good points.


>
> 3) I don't like the "STATS IMPORT" description. For extended statistics
> we dump the definition as "STATISTICS" so why to shorten it to "STATS"
> here? And "IMPORT" seems more like the process of loading data, not the
> data itself. So I suggest "STATISTICS DATA".
>

+1