Greg Stark <gsstark@mit.edu> writes:
> Tom Lane <tgl@sss.pgh.pa.us> writes:
>> If multiple inserters failed to split, the index might still be overfull,
>> but eventually, the index will not be overfull and split attempts will stop.
> If one backend is executing a query but the client has paused reading records,
> is it possible the shared lock on the index bucket would be held for a long
> time?
Yes.
> If so wouldn't it be possible for an arbitrarily large number of records to be
> inserted while the lock is held, eventually causing the bucket to become
> extremely large?
Yes.
> Is there a maximum size at which the bucket split MUST succeed or is
> it purely a performance issue that the buckets be reasonably balanced?
AFAICS it's purely a performance issue.
Note also that a hash index will by definition have sucky performance on
large numbers of equal keys, so anyone who is using a hash index on such
a column deserves what they get. Now you could possibly have this
worst-case scenario even on a column with well-scattered keys, but it
seems improbable.
regards, tom lane