Horton

Re: [PATCH] pg_stat_activity: make slow/hanging authentication more visible

Jacob Champion <jacob.champion@enterprisedb.com>

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From: Jacob Champion <jacob.champion@enterprisedb.com>
To: Andres Freund <andres@anarazel.de>
Cc: Michael Paquier <michael@paquier.xyz>, Robert Haas <robertmhaas@gmail.com>, Noah Misch <noah@leadboat.com>, Andrew Dunstan <andrew@dunslane.net>, PostgreSQL Hackers <pgsql-hackers@postgresql.org>, Euler Taveira <euler.taveira@enterprisedb.com>, Daniel Gustafsson <daniel@yesql.se>
Date: 2025-03-13T17:29:49Z
Lists: pgsql-hackers 
On Thu, Mar 13, 2025 at 9:56 AM Andres Freund <andres@anarazel.de> wrote:
> I am wondering if PAM is so fundamentally incompatible with handling
> interrupts / a non-blocking interface that we have little choice but to
> eventually remove it...

Given the choice between a usually-working PAM module with known
architectural flaws, and not having PAM at all, I think many users
would rather continue using what's working for them.

> FWIW, I continue to think that it's better to invest in making more auth
> methods non-blocking, rather than adding wait events for code that could maybe
> sometimes wait on different things internally.

I think we disagree on the either/or nature of that. If I can get
proof that a certain thing is causing bugs in the wild, then I have
ammunition to fix that thing. Right now there is no visibility, and my
interest in rewriting old authentication methods without bug reports
to motivate that work is pretty low. I'm not willing to sign up for
that at the moment.

(But I do really appreciate the review. I'm just feeling crispy about
the overall result...)

Thanks,
--Jacob

Commits

  1. Fix race condition in TAP test 007_pre_auth

  2. Split pgstat_bestart() into three different routines

  3. backport: Extend background_psql() to be able to start asynchronously

  4. backport: Improve handling of empty query results in BackgroundPsql

  5. Improve handling of empty query results in BackgroundPsql::query()

  6. Extend Cluster.pm's background_psql() to be able to start asynchronously

  7. dblink: Replace WAIT_EVENT_EXTENSION with custom wait events