Re: Exit walsender before confirming remote flush in logical replication

Fujii Masao <masao.fujii@gmail.com>

From: Fujii Masao <masao.fujii@gmail.com>
To: Chao Li <li.evan.chao@gmail.com>
Cc: Andres Freund <andres@anarazel.de>, Andrey Silitskiy <a.silitskiy@postgrespro.ru>, Alexander Korotkov <aekorotkov@gmail.com>, Greg Sabino Mullane <htamfids@gmail.com>, Japin Li <japinli@hotmail.com>, Ronan Dunklau <ronan@dunklau.fr>, Vitaly Davydov <v.davydov@postgrespro.ru>, "Hayato Kuroda (Fujitsu)" <kuroda.hayato@fujitsu.com>, "Takamichi Osumi (Fujitsu)" <osumi.takamichi@fujitsu.com>, "pgsql-hackers@postgresql.org" <pgsql-hackers@postgresql.org>, "sawada.mshk@gmail.com" <sawada.mshk@gmail.com>, "michael@paquier.xyz" <michael@paquier.xyz>, "peter.eisentraut@enterprisedb.com" <peter.eisentraut@enterprisedb.com>, "dilipbalaut@gmail.com" <dilipbalaut@gmail.com>, "amit.kapila16@gmail.com" <amit.kapila16@gmail.com>, Kyotaro Horiguchi <horikyota.ntt@gmail.com>, Peter Smith <smithpb2250@gmail.com>
Date: 2026-04-23T04:51:53Z
Lists: pgsql-hackers

Attachments

On Wed, Apr 22, 2026 at 3:32 AM Fujii Masao <masao.fujii@gmail.com> wrote:
> Therefore, since replacing pq_flush() with pq_flush_if_writable() seems to
> change behavior only in a limited and acceptable way, I'm thinking to create
> the patch doing that replacement.

On second thought, replacing pq_flush() with pq_flush_if_writable() is not
sufficient. EndCommand(), which WalSndDone() calls before pq_flush(), can also
block when the send buffer is full. That happens because EndCommand() uses
pq_putmessage() rather than pq_putmessage_noblock().

Also, replacing pq_flush() with pq_flush_if_writable() would cause walsender to
give up sending pending messages, including CommandComplete, even before
wal_sender_shutdown_timeout expires. That seems a bit odd. I think it is better
for walsender to continue honoring wal_sender_shutdown_timeout while attempting
to send the final CommandComplete message.

I've attached a patch that addresses both issues. For the first, it introduces
EndCommandExtended(), which allows CommandComplete to be queued with
pq_putmessage_noblock(). For the second, it updates WalSndDone() to use
ProcessPendingWrites() instead of pq_flush(), so the walsender write loop can
continue processing replies and checking replication and shutdown timeouts
while pending output is being flushed.

Thoughts?

Regards,

-- 
Fujii Masao

Commits

Same data as JSON: GET /api/v1/messages/:b64id/commits the thread's linked commits as JSON, with link sources. API reference →
  1. Avoid blocking indefinitely while finishing walsender shutdown

  2. Add wal_sender_shutdown_timeout GUC to limit shutdown wait for replication

  3. pg_upgrade: Add --copy option

  4. Prevent possibility of panics during shutdown checkpoint.

  5. Support clean switchover.