Re: VARATT_EXTERNAL_GET_POINTER is not quite there yet

Gregory Stark <stark@enterprisedb.com> writes:
> "Tom Lane" <tgl@sss.pgh.pa.us> writes:
>> It might work to change struct varlena's contents to something like
>> 
>> char        vl_len_[4];    /* Do not touch this field directly! */
>> char        vl_dat[1];

> Oh, that would probably fix this problem pretty well.

> Touching vl_dat is only safe if you've either just allocated the object
> yourself or you've already detoasted it.

Sure, but that's been true ever since TOAST was first put in.  The
varvarlena patch didn't change that coding rule.

I'll go try the char[4] hack and see if it works on the machines I have.
        regards, tom lane