== PostgreSQL Weekly News - May 02 2010 ==

== PostgreSQL Weekly News - May 02 2010 ==

PostgreSQL 9.0beta1 out soon.  Get ready to test!
http://wiki.postgresql.org/wiki/HowToBetaTest

== PostgreSQL Product News ==

New PostgreSQL LiveCDs based on PostgreSQL 8.4 atop Fedora 12 and
CentOS 5.4 are out.
http://www.pglivecd.org/

PL/Proxy 2.1.0, a write-scaling clustering system for PostgreSQL, released.
http://pgfoundry.org/projects/plproxy/

== PostgreSQL 9.0 Feature of the Week ==

You can now call functions with named parameters, e.g.
foo('value' AS parameter_foo, 'other value' AS parameter_bar)

== PostgreSQL Local ==

Andreas (ads) Scherbaum will be teaching a "PostgreSQL for Corporate
Use" course at the adult education center in Magdeburg, Germany May
3-7, 2010.  Details below:
http://andreas.scherbaum.la/blog/archives/650-PostgreSQL-Schulung-als-Bildungsurlaub-03.-07.05.2010-in-Magdeburg.html

PgCon 2010 will be held May 20-21 2010 in Ottawa with tutorials before
on the 18th and 19th.
http://www.pgcon.org/2010/registration.php

Registration for Open Source Bridge is open and talks are announced!
June 1-4, 2010 in Portland, Oregon.
http://opensourcebridge.org/events/2010/proposals/

Michael Renner will be speaking at AMOOCON, which goes from June 4-6, 2010.
http://www.amoocon.de/speakers/214

Southeast Linuxfest 2010 will take place in Spartanburg, SC, USA on
June 12-13.  Booths and sponsorships are still available.
http://southeastlinuxfest.org/

OSCON will take place in Portland, Oregon July 19-23, 2010.
http://www.oscon.com/oscon2010


== PostgreSQL in the News ==

Planet PostgreSQL: http://planet.postgresql.org/

PostgreSQL Weekly News is brought to you this week by David Fetter

Submit news and announcements by Sunday at 3:00pm Pacific time.
Please send English language ones to david@fetter.org, German language
to pwn@pgug.de, Italian language to pwn@itpug.org.  Spanish language
to pwn@arpug.com.ar.

== Applied Patches ==

Robert Haas committed:

- When we're restricting who can connect, don't allow new walsenders.
  Normal superuser processes are allowed to connect even when the
  database system is shutting down, or when fewer than
  superuser_reserved_connection slots remain.  This is intended to
  make sure an administrator can log in and troubleshoot, so don't
  extend these same courtesies to users connecting for replication.

Bruce Momjian committed:

- In pgsql/src/backend/utils/adt/pg_locale.c, add comments about why
  we set LC_CTYPE in WIN32 for time when we don't actually access it,
  per information from Hiroshi Inoue.

- Reorder pg_stat_activity columns to be more consistent, using layout
  suggested by Tom Lane.  Catalog version bumped due to system view
  change.

- In pgsql/doc/src/sgml/high-availability.sgml, document that pgpool
  can be used with master/slave servers to avoid problems with
  non-deterministic functions.

- In pgsql/doc/src/sgml/release-9.0.sgml, update 9.0 release notes to
  current;  add major items and introductory text.

- Move alpha release notes into a separate file;  re-align sgml tags.

- In pgsql/doc/src/sgml/release-9.0.sgml, doc fix -- last major item
  should not be a bullet.

- In pgsql/doc/src/sgml/release-9.0.sgml, documentation fix:  CREATE
  TRIGGER 'WHERE' -> 'WHEN'.  Selena Deckelmann.

Tom Lane committed:

- In pgsql/src/backend/tsearch/wparser_def.c, add missing newlines in
  WPARSER_TRACE output.

- In pgsql/doc/src/sgml/monitoring.sgml, update documentation to match
  pg_stat_activity changes.

- Replace the KnownAssignedXids hash table with a sorted-array data
  structure, and be more tense about the locking requirements for it,
  to improve performance in Hot Standby mode.  In passing fix a few
  bugs and improve a number of comments in the existing Hot Standby
  code.  Simon Riggs, with some editorialization by Tom Lane.

- In pgsql/src/backend/parser/parse_relation.c, fix stupid typo in
  refnameRangeTblEntry() --- mea maxima culpa.  Per report from Josh
  Berkus.

- Modify the built-in text search parser to handle URLs more nearly
  according to RFC 3986.  In particular, these characters now
  terminate the path part of a URL: '"', '<', '>', '\', '^', '`', '{',
  '|', '}'.  The previous behavior was inconsistent and depended on
  whether a "?" was present in the path.  Per gripe from Donald Fraser
  and spec research by Kevin Grittner.  This is a pre-existing bug,
  but not back-patching since the risks of breaking existing
  applications seem to outweigh the benefits.

- Fix contrib/tsearch2 expected results to match recent changes in URL
  parsing.

- Modify ShmemInitStruct and ShmemInitHash to throw errors internally,
  rather than returning NULL for some-but-not-all failures as they
  used to.  Remove now-redundant tests for NULL from call sites.  We
  had to do something about this because many call sites were failing
  to check for NULL; and changing it like this seems a lot more useful
  and mistake-proof than adding checks to the call sites without them.

- In pgsql/src/bin/pg_controldata/pg_controldata.c, pg_controldata
  needs #define FRONTEND, same as pg_resetxlog.  Per buildfarm results
  from dawn_bat.

- Minor editorializing on pg_controldata and pg_resetxlog: adjust some
  message wording, deal explicitly with some fields that were being
  silently left zero.

- In pgsql/src/backend/catalog/information_schema.sql, modify
  information_schema._pg_keysequal() to avoid search path risk when
  contrib/intarray is loaded.  Per bug #5417 from Kenaniah Cerny.  Not
  forcing initdb since backend doesn't directly depend on this, and
  few people have run into it.

- In pgsql/doc/src/sgml/perform.sgml, fix typo, per Thom Brown.

- In pgsql/doc/src/sgml/jadetex.cfg, install a workaround for 'TeX
  capacity exceeded' problem when building PDF output for recent
  versions of the documentation.  There is probably a better answer
  out there somewhere, but we need something now so we can build beta
  releases.

- Rename the parameter recovery_connections to hot_standby, to reduce
  possible confusion with streaming-replication settings.  Also,
  change its default value to "off", because of concern about
  executing new and poorly-tested code during ordinary non-replicating
  operation.  Per discussion.  In passing do some minor editing of
  related documentation.

- Adjust error checks in pg_start_backup and pg_stop_backup to make it
  possible to perform a backup without archive_mode being enabled.
  This gives up some user-error protection in order to improve
  usefulness for streaming-replication scenarios.  Per discussion.

- Fix a couple of places where the result of fgets() wasn't checked.
  This is mostly to suppress compiler warnings, although in principle
  the cases could result in undesirable behavior.  Martin Pitt.

- In pgsql/src/pl/plpython/plpython.c, fix multiple memory leaks in
  PLy_spi_execute_fetch_result: it would leak memory if the result had
  zero rows, and also if there was any sort of error while converting
  the result tuples into Python data.  Reported and partially fixed by
  Andres Freund.  Back-patch to all supported versions.  Note: I
  haven't tested the 7.4 fix.  7.4's configure check for python is so
  obsolete it doesn't work on my current machines :-(.  The logic
  change is pretty straightforward though.

- In pgsql/doc/src/sgml/ref/copy.sgml, improve COPY documentation to
  clarify that it doesn't copy data to or from child tables.  Per
  gripe from Jaime Casanova.

- In pgsql/doc/src/sgml/runtime.sgml, update our information about OS
  X shared memory configuration: it's now possible to set most of the
  SHM kernel parameters without a reboot.  Also, reorder the paragraph
  to explain the modern configuration method first.  There are
  probably not too many people who still care about how to do it on OS
  X 10.3 or older.

- In pgsql/src/pl/plpython/plpython.c, fix leakage of proc-related
  storage in plpython's inline handler.  Per report from Andres
  Freund.

- In pgsql/doc/src/sgml/Makefile, adjust postgres.xml rule so that
  make will notice a failure exit from osx.  The previous coding had
  it in a pipe, which on most shells won't report the error.  Per
  experimentation with a bug report from Vladimir Kokovic.  This
  doesn't actually fix his problem, but it does explain why make
  didn't report that there was a problem.

- In pgsql/doc/src/sgml/Makefile, install hack workaround for failure
  of 'make all' in VPATH builds.  It appears that gmake gets confused
  if postgres.sgml is not present in the working directory, and
  instantiates some default rule or other that would let postgres.sgml
  be built from postgres.xml.  I haven't been able to track down
  exactly where that's coming from, but the problem can be dodged by
  specifying srcdir explicitly in the rule for postgres.xml.  Per
  report from Vladimir Kokovic.

- In pgsql/src/backend/port/sysv_shmem.c, add code to
  InternalIpcMemoryCreate() to handle the case where shmget() returns
  EINVAL for an existing shared memory segment.  Although it's not
  terribly sensible, that behavior does meet the POSIX spec because
  EINVAL is the appropriate error code when the existing segment is
  smaller than the requested size, and the spec explicitly disclaims
  any particular ordering of error checks.  Moreover, it does in fact
  happen on OS X and probably other BSD-derived kernels.  (We were
  able to talk NetBSD into changing their code, but purging that
  behavior from the wild completely seems unlikely to happen.) We need
  to distinguish collision with a pre-existing segment from invalid
  size request in order to behave sensibly, so it's worth some extra
  code here to get it right.  Per report from Gavin Kistner and
  subsequent investigation.  Back-patch to all supported versions,
  since any of them could get used with a kernel having the debatable
  behavior.

- Clean up some awkward, inaccurate, and inefficient processing around
  MaxStandbyDelay.  Use the GUC units mechanism for the value, and
  choose more appropriate timestamp functions for performing tests
  with it.  Make the ps_activity manipulation in
  ResolveRecoveryConflictWithVirtualXIDs have behavior similar to
  ps_activity code elsewhere, notably not updating the display when
  update_process_title is off and not truncating the display contents
  at an arbitrarily-chosen length.  Improve the docs to be explicit
  about what MaxStandbyDelay actually measures, viz the difference
  between primary and standby servers' clocks, and the possible
  hazards if their clocks aren't in sync.

- In pgsql/src/backend/access/heap/heapam.c, fix replay of
  XLOG_HEAP_NEWPAGE WAL records to pay attention to the forknum field
  of the WAL record.  The previous coding always wrote to the main
  fork, resulting in data corruption if the page was meant to go into
  a non-default fork.  At present, the only operation that can produce
  such WAL records is ALTER TABLE/INDEX SET TABLESPACE when executed
  with archive_mode = on.  Data corruption would be observed on
  standby slaves, and could occur on the master as well if a database
  crash and recovery occurred after committing the ALTER and before
  the next checkpoint.  Per report from Gordon Shannon.  Back-patch to
  8.4; the problem doesn't exist in earlier branches because we didn't
  have a concept of multiple relation forks then.

- In pgsql/src/backend/access/heap/heapam.c, improve printing of
  XLOG_HEAP_NEWPAGE records to include the forknum.

Heikki Linnakangas committed:

- In pgsql/src/backend/access/transam/xlog.c, if a base backup is
  cancelled by server shutdown or crash, throw an error in WAL
  recovery when it sees the shutdown checkpoint record.  It's more
  user-friendly to find out about it at that point than at the end of
  recovery, and you're not left wondering why your hot standby server
  never opens up for read-only connections.

- In pgsql/doc/src/sgml/recovery-config.sgml, add recovery.conf
  parameters to the documentation index, per suggestion by Fujii
  Masao.

- Introduce wal_level GUC to explicitly control if information needed
  for archival or hot standby should be WAL-logged, instead of
  deducing that from other options like archive_mode.  This replaces
  recovery_connections GUC in the primary, where it now has no effect,
  but it's still used in the standby to enable/disable hot standby.
  Remove the WAL-logging of "unlogged operations", like creating an
  index without WAL-logging and fsyncing it at the end.  Instead, we
  keep a copy of the wal_mode setting and the settings that affect how
  much shared memory a hot standby server needs to track master
  transactions (max_connections, max_prepared_xacts,
  max_locks_per_xact) in pg_control.  Whenever the settings change, at
  server restart, write a WAL record noting the new settings and
  update pg_control.  This allows us to notice the change in those
  settings in the standby at the right moment, they used to be
  included in checkpoint records, but that meant that a changed value
  was not reflected in the standby until the first checkpoint after
  the change.  Bump PG_CONTROL_VERSION and XLOG_PAGE_MAGIC.  Whack
  XLOG_PAGE_MAGIC back to the sequence it used to follow, before hot
  standby and subsequent patches changed it to 0x9003.

- In pgsql/src/backend/access/nbtree/nbtxlog.c, fix handling of b-tree
  reuse WAL records when hot standby is disabled, and add missing code
  in btree_desc for them. This fixes the bug with "tree_redo: unknown
  op code 208" error reported by Jaime Casanova.

Alvaro Herrera committed:

- In pgsql/doc/src/sgml/plpgsql.sgml, reformat code examples in
  plpgsql docs for better readability in PDF output.  Erik Rijkers

- In pgsql/doc/src/sgml/perform.sgml, make pg_stats example query
  result a bit less wide, and add comment about pg_stats.inherited

ITAGAKI Takahiro committed:

- In pgsql/src/port/chklocale.c, add CP949 as an alias for UHC
  encoding.  pg_get_encoding_from_locale() with kor locale on Windows
  can use the path.  Reported by Hiroshi Inoue.

Magnus Hagander committed:

- In pgsql/src/interfaces/libpq/fe-protocol3.c, fix typo that had the
  code check the same thing twice.  Fujii Masao.

Marc Fournier committed:

- Tag for 9.0beta1.

Simon Riggs committed:

- In pgsql/doc/src/sgml/config.sgml, mention that max_standby_delay
  has units of milliseconds. Units are mentioned for all other
  parameters where the default is expressed in a different unit.

- In pgsql/doc/src/sgml/regress.sgml, docs for standbycheck regression
  tests.

- Update standbycheck test output with new ERROR message changes.  No
  changes to tests and no changes in accepted server behaviour.

== Rejected Patches (for now) ==

No one was disappointed this week :-)

== Pending Patches ==

Marko (johto) Tiikkaja sent in a patch to throw a more informative
warning when people use extra parentheses in INSERT statements.

Simon Riggs sent in another revision of the patch to fix the issue
where queries on the Hot Standby slave ran much slower than the same
queries on the master.

Heikki Linnakangas sent in a patch to relax the checks in
pg_start/stop_backup() so they can be used as long as wal_level >=
'archive', even when archiving is disabled.

Simon Riggs sent in a patch intended to improve the performance of
btree_xlog_vacuum().

Zoltan Boszormenyi sent in two revisions of a patch intended for 9.1
which adds synchronous replication atop Hot Standby/Streaming
Replication.

Aftab Hussain sent in a patch to add PKST (Pakstan Summer Time) to the
time zone list.

Robert Haas sent in a patch to implement CINE (Create If Not Exists)
for tables.

Greg Sabino Mullane sent in a patch to show the schema along with the
table involved in a COPY error.